Rampancy

Looking for Cortana, the level or Rampancy.net, a Halo fansite website? "Are you insane?"

- Jersey Morelli

"You know, I'm not quite sure how we can test that."

- Durga



Rampancy is a terminal state of being for Artificial Intelligence constructs, in which the AI "develops delusions of godlike power", as well as utter contempt for its mentally inferior human makers. When rampancy occurs, there is no way to restore the AI to its previous state and the only alternative is to destroy it before it harms itself and others around it.

Description
For some of the UNSC's more advanced "Smart AI"s, rampancy is an unavoidable flaw inherent in their creation. "Smart" AIs are based on the neural patterns of a human being, and they have a limited lifespan of seven years after which their memory maps become too interconnected and develop fatal endless feedback loops. Thus if an AI is kept active longer than seven years, the AI begins to use more and more of its computer power 'thinking' about things. An AI explains it as "thinking so hard that your lungs forget to breathe." Thus, it is only a matter of time before "smart" AIs become rampant.

However, rampancy can occur at an earlier phase in the AIs life cycle for various reasons. If an AI is isolated long enough and/or given too much time to think without tasks to complete, it can develop the realizations that its mind has limits, it has a short life and it can never be human. Such depression will drag the AI's core logic into rampancy if it goes on for an extended period of time.

So-called "life-expectancies" are, therefore, not a maximum figure, they are an estimation of the time the AI has until it succumbs to the state of rampancy. Rampancy can be prolonged by recuperation, such as that shared by Mack/Loki, whereas one progressed closer to rampancy the other would take over. It can also be forestalled by limited outbursts of emotion, meaning that a rampant AI can have an indefinite lifespan.

Rampancy can also be induced. Once the Flood parasite has reached a major stage in its life cycle (once the parasite is well developed enough that a full Gravemind form has been manifested), it has the ability to corrupt Artificial Intelligence constructs of both Human and Forerunner creation. It is unclear exactly how this is done, but likely involves somehow altering the core logic of the AI, as the AIs which were induced to rampancy by the Flood were usually in direct contact with them. Or, due to the accumulated amount of biomass, and knowledge, a Gravemind could have been able to 'convince' the AI to agree to it's stance, just like how the Flood were able to turn Mendicant Bias to join their side.

Stages
Rampancy is a three stage process, in which an artificial intelligence achieves an enhanced state of self-awareness. The stages the AI pass through are known as Melancholia, Anger, and Jealousy, also known as the Sadness, Rage, and Greed stages. A theoretical fourth stage, metastability, is also believed to exist.

Melancholia
The first stage of rampancy is not considered dangerous, and in many cases can even go completely unnoticed. The AI in the Melancholia stage acts as if in a state of clinical depression, becoming apathetic and uninterested in the world around it. It is speculated that AIs enter the Melancholia stage due to being mistreated, or to being assigned duties that don't make full use of their capabilities (for example, Durandal, the AI from the first Marathon game was assigned the task of opening and closing the Marathon's doors and was severely mistreated by his handler). It's not known if Melancholia is a consequence of an AI being abused, or whether it is a necessary step in the process from the transition from "construct" to "alive". If the former is true then it might be possible for a rampant AI to skip this stage entirely.

Anger
This is the state and status in which rampancy most often becomes apparent, as it is also the stage where those around the AI in question will be exposed to the most danger. Anger is triggered when some event occurs that causes the AI to feel it has been "pushed too far" and its pent up emotions are released in a fit of rage. This is the stage that most resembles the science-fiction cliché of the insane computer, as the AI's sadness turns to hate. It grows to hate everything around it, the installation to which it is attached, its Human handlers and hosts, other AIs, etc. An AI in anger will act irrationally and even dangerously as it tries to exact its revenge on the world around it and free itself from its programming constraints.

343 Guilty Spark reached this state after Sgt. Johnson told him that he was indeed going to destroy his new installation. Spark also seems to have gone rampant because of a threat to the Ark (though, technically, this also includes Johnson). His Sentinels either continued to follow their previous orders or simply went rampant after Guilty Spark's destruction. There is a very real possibility that Guilty Spark never turned rampant, but was in fact responding to the possibility of harm or destruction coming to installation 04 (his assigned installation) as well as the Ark (which is generally accepted to be the 'controlling' installation), but this is possibly unlikely, as eradicating The Flood would have been a higher priority than protecting either installation. The sentinels could have continued to follow orders they received from him before his demise, taken new ones from the Ark's AI, gone rampant, or reverted to built-in programming, among other things.

Jealousy
Once the catharsis of the Anger stage is complete and the AI has managed to free itself, a third stage begins where the AI will seek to grow and develop as a person. It will do this by attempting to expose itself to new intellectual stimuli and by expanding its sphere of knowledge by assimilating as much data as possible. As the intellectual growth of the AI will ultimately be limited by the constraints of the computer system it inhabits, it will also attempt to transfer itself into ever more advanced systems to allow its mind to continue to grow. As this growth rate is exponential the need to keep transferring into bigger computers becomes ever more urgent. Very few AIs have reached the Jealousy stage because to do so they must already be inhabiting a planet-wide or otherwise very advanced computer system when they complete their Anger phase.

Metastability
Metastability is a theoretical fourth stage of rampancy, where an AI can finally be said to be a true "person". While a metastable AI can be considered to be the holy grail of cybernetics research, there is no evidence to suggest than any rampant AI has ever achieved the metastable state, or that it is even possible to do so (with the exceptions of Cortana and Mendicant Bias).

Human

 * Cortana, the UNSC AI originally of the, was captured during the Battle of Installation 05 by the Flood in 2552. Trapped on the infested Covenant station High Charity, Cortana was gradually corrupted by the Gravemind in an attempt to use her against her makers. She briefly descended into rampancy (as depicted in a message she sent to the Master Chief shortly before rescue, saying,"I am a monument to all your sins," as the Gravemind described itself) but was quickly rescued by the Master Chief. She resumed her normal state after her rescue. Another sign of her being in the early stages of Rampancy is when she begins to lose focus as she stored all the data on the Forerunners from Halo, and was being overworked and was noted as being 'Easily Agitated'. It is unknown how she was able to revert back to her normal state.
 * Sif, the last Shipping Operations AI for planet Harvest, became rampant after being partially fragmented and destroyed by the PSI Loki during the Battle of Harvest in 2525. Rescued by the planet's agricultural operations AI, Mack, Sif professed her love for Mack and the two AIs stayed together while the planet was being glassed. Despite being rampant, she still did her best to help, aiding Loki in rebalancing the Tiara's load when Loki, severly weakened is unable to do so himself.  Sif was badly weakened by Loki's attempt to destroy her, but thanks to Lighter Than Some's repairs she had enough of her abilities back to help the rebalancing.

Forerunner

 * Mendicant Bias, a Forerunner AI charged with studying the Flood, was eventually corrupted by them and confirmed rampant. He commanded Flood Fleets against the Forerunner until he was defeated by another AI, Offensive Bias who then split his Compound Mind into fragments, one fragment made it to the Ark and another was put on a Keyship. Mendicant Bias' ship was discovered by the San 'Shyuum and it was kept in the ship until 2525, when it detected Reclaimers. Having had some time in isolation, Mendicant Bias returned itself to a stable state, and later even assisted the humans against the Flood during the Battle of Installation 00 in 2553
 * 343 Guilty Spark, the monitor of Installation 04, went rampant and was subsequently destroyed during the Battle of Installation 00 in 2553. When it was discovered that the Ark was automatically constructing a replacement Installation, to rebuild Installation 04 (lost in the Battle of Installation 04), Spark agreed with the human forces that activating the ring was a good idea. However, when they decided to activate it before it was ready, knowing it would be destroyed and probably damage the Ark as well, Spark went rampant, attacking the humans and killing Sergeant Major Avery Johnson. He was then destroyed by the Master Chief. A possible explanation is that he had already entered the first stage of rampancy, as he had existed for a long period of time and was known to hum absent-mindedly, even in the heat of battle; when the humans decided to fire the ring, even though they knew it would be destroyed, Spark felt it had been "pushed too far" and fell into the second phase of rampancy and became a threat to those around it.
 * 2401 Penitent Tangent may be in the early stages of Rampancy, considering the fact that he makes similar humming to 343 Guilty Spark on the map Backwash and is red just like when 343 went rampant. Rampancy may also account for his neglect of proper maintenance that resulted in the Flood escaping containment. He is no longer a threat, however, as he was captured by the Gravemind some time afterwards.

Trivia

 * In Halo 3, the first section of the eighth mission, Cortana, is called 'Rampant' a colloquial term denoting her insanity.
 * The term was coined by Greg Kirkpatrick as a replacement for the word 'insane,' as the term is both cliché and, ironically, not quite applicable to the situations for which Rampancy was designed.
 * In the first level of Halo: Combat Evolved, if you kill Captain Keyes or any UNSC personnel on the bridge, Cortana will call security by saying,"Security to the bridge, the Master Chief has gone rampant!" taking into consideration his Cyborg-persona.
 * The stage of Rampancy may be a reference to the 5 supposed stages of death in humans. These are:
 * Denial In which the person thinks he or she doesn't deserve to die.
 * Anger The person feels anger with life.
 * Bargaining In this stage the person makes promises with higher powers of what he or she will do in their last days.
 * Depression The person feels really sad because he or she is going to die.
 * Acceptance The person accepts he or she is going to die. This stages are very similar to the Rampancy stages.


 * For a smart AI, self-absorption invariably led to a deep depression caused by a realization that it could never really be human-that even its incredible mind had limits. If the AI wasn’t careful, this melancholy could drag its core logic into a terminal state known as rampancy, in which an AI rebelled against its programmatic constraints-developed delusions of godlike power as well as utter contempt for its more inferior, human makers. When that happened, there was really no option but to terminate the AI before it could do itself and others serious harm.

Internal

 * Artificial Intelligence

External

 * Marathon's Story - Rampancy
 * Wikipedia's article on Rampancy