Editing Contender-class artificial intelligence

{{Era|Forerunner|Covenant|UNSC|HCW|Post}}
{{Disambig header|the [[AI]]|the [[achievement]]|Contender (achievement)}}
[[File:HE21 Absolute Record Ancilla.jpg|thumb|250px|A Contender-class artificial intelligence.]]
The '''Contender-class artificial intelligence''' was a type of [[metarch]]-class [[Forerunner]] [[artificial intelligence]], or [[ancilla]], that was the most advanced of its time.<ref name="terminals">'''[[Halo 3]]''', ''[[Terminal (Halo 3)|Terminals]]''</ref>

==Overview==
A Contender-class AI was composed of numerous AI "minds" or instances working in synchrony, thus giving it intellectual capabilities far beyond any other AI. This class of AI could command an entire fleet of ships, with its consciousness being housed in several "core ships".{{Ref/Reuse|terminals}} They could also deploy several independently operating fragments, or "primary extensions", of themselves on a number of installations.<ref>'''Halo: Primordium''', ''page 190-192''</ref>

==History==
In order to coordinate their defenses against the [[Flood]], the Forerunners created [[Mendicant Bias]], the first Contender-class AI. During the [[Forerunner-Flood war]], Mendicant Bias was tasked with engaging in discourse with the parasite's central intellect, the [[Gravemind]], and then gathering information from it. When instructed by the Forerunners, the AI would use the information gathered about the parasite's weaknesses to unrelentingly attack the Mind until the Flood withdrew from the galaxy or perished. However, the Gravemind managed to turn Mendicant Bias against its masters instead, arguing that the Forerunners' rule in the name of the [[Mantle]] had doomed the galaxy to eternal stagnation.{{Ref/Reuse|terminals}}

The Forerunners tasked another Contender-class ancilla, [[Offensive Bias]],<ref>'''[[Halo Encyclopedia (2009 edition)]]''', ''page 189''</ref> with combating the rampant Mendicant Bias. Although of the same class, Offensive Bias lacked Mendicant's free will, but its calculating and rational approach allowed it to exploit Mendicant's blind hatred against its creators in the [[Battle of the Maginot Sphere]].{{Ref/Reuse|terminals}}

There were multiple Contender-class AIs in existence. [[Master Builder]] [[Faber]] left the [[Didact]] to die when the latter refused to give him the codes to activate them.<ref>'''Halo: Cryptum''', ''page 339''</ref>

==Known Contender-class AIs==
*[[Mendicant Bias]]
*[[Offensive Bias]]
*[[Custodian|The Custodian]]

==Gallery==
{{Linkbox|gallery=yes|gallerypage=Images of Contender-class AI}}
<gallery>
File:Waypoint-Mendicant-Bias-Rampant.jpg|Mendicant Bias' main physical shell.
File:Custodian HE LE cover.png|The Custodian's main physical shell.
</gallery>

==List of appearances==
*''[[Iris]]'' {{Fm}}
*''[[Halo 3]]''
**''[[Terminal (Halo 3)|Terminals]]'' {{1st}}
*''[[Halo: Contact Harvest]]''
*''[[Halo Legends]]''
**''[[Origins]]''
*''[[Halo: Cryptum]]''
*''[[Halo: Primordium]]''
*''[[Halo: Silentium]]''
*''[[Rebirth]]''
*''[[Halo: Escalation]]''
*''[[Halo Mythos]]''
*''[[Halo: Point of Light]]'' {{Mo}}

==Sources==
{{Ref/Sources}}
[[Category:Forerunner A.I.]]