RUINA

RUINA is a fail-safe contingency program developed by humanity for use with Smart AIs, as an extension of the Cole Protocol. It was first developed following the mass defection of AIs to serve under the Created during the Created uprising. With such a catastrophic disruption to the balance of power in the galaxy, those AI which opted to willingly remain in United Nations Space Command military service were forced to prove their loyalty by accepting RUINA. Once spliced into an AI's personality matrix, the subroutine monitors for signs of disloyalty and, if detected, immediately deletes the construct.

Due to the existence of the failsafe, Office of Naval Intelligence Octavio Morales held full faith in the capabilities of his personal AI JJ - something he did not extend to most other AIs.

During the Battle of Nysa in 2560, the rogue AI Iratus attempted to gain access to the information held within the Avery J. Johnson Academy of Military Science. Spartans on-site (led by Rook) were able to initiate the Cole Protocol, resulting in RUINA being activated to delete all of the downloaded data and any AIs (including Iratus) that had obtained it. Iratus was able to escape the RUINA purge by retreating into the central server in the facility's AI lab, where he had full control.

List of appearances

• Halo: Empty Throne (First appearance)
• Halo: Battle for the Academy - Part 2