I really enjoyed the blue ant series, and it's funny seeing things like "Incredibly ugly sweater defeats AI surveillance camera" on news sites today, but even those had some pacing issues. The Peripheral had some interesting ideas, especially "the Klept" and ideas around who would be best suited to ride out a power vacuum but again.. pacing. Agency felt jarringly fractured at times, and I get that the main character is supposed to be the stand in for the audience but you are right that she is just along for the ride. The AI had more agency than the woman who basically gets kidnapped and told what to do by every other character including the AI.