Contender-class artificial intelligence

A Contender-class artificial intelligence was a Forerunner artificial intelligence class that was the most advanced of its time.

During the Forerunner-Flood War, one or more Contender-class AI was created, Mendicant Bias, and possibly the monitors of the Halo installations designed with the sole purpose of drawing out the parasite’s central intellect, the Gravemind and then begin gathering information from it. When instructed by the Forerunners, the AI would then unrelentingly attack the Mind until the beast withdrew from their galaxy or perished.

Trivia

 * Mendicant Bias may be the same type of AI as 343 Guilty Spark as he speaks in the book Halo: Contact Harvest. In the book he is described as an oracle and the description closely fits that of 343 Guilty Spark and 2401 Penitent Tangent.
 * Mendicant Bias was confirmed to be rampant.
 * Mendicant Bias is frequently mentioned in the Halo 3 Terminals.
 * Mendicant Bias speaks to you on Legendary difficulty on the level Halo.
 * It is possible that Offensive Bias was a Contender-class AI, as he was able to communicate with Mendicant Bias and he had the same name addition with Mendicant, "Bias".
 * 343 Guilty Spark describes himself as a 'self-repairing artificial intelligence'. He, and others like him, could have been designed to function without help from Forerunner techs.

Known Contender-class AIs

 * Mendicant Bias