Why is my AI root not playing like the tutorial?

I hooked up my Character BP to the AI Controller, the AI Controller to the Behavior Tree, and the Behavior Tree to the Blackboard… what gives?

Not sure what you mean. The BT you show on the screenshots is empty - the ROOT node is just a helper node for specifying BB asset. Add some nodes and try then. Also, do yourself a favor and use latest UE4 version.

Cheers,

–mieszko