Associated intelligence

An Associated Intelligence is the term used by the Covenant to describe Artificial Intelligence. According to their mythology, it was an Associated Intelligence that betrayed and brought down the Forerunners and thus, the Covenant maintained a strict ban on the creation of AI technology under penalty of death. The ban was put in place by the Prophets after learning of the tale of Mendicant Bias - a Forerunner AI that descended into Rampancy, betraying the Forerunners, and allying itself with the Flood in the misguided belief that its makers were "hindering" the evolution of the galaxy. The Covenant's ban may have stemmed from a desire to prevent such a thing happening again.

By 2552, this ban seems to have either have been repealed, or ignored with the introduction of what appeared to be extremely fragmented copies of captured UNSC AIs introduced into service aboard at least one Covenant warship.