Information on it can be found here.
Anyway, it says that it is a legislative group of human AI. Apparently they are the ones on the datapads in HALO: Reach.
Im wondering if there is anymore information about this group that the wiki doesnt have. I find the whole concept…strange, and im wondering if it is even part of HALO cannon or just something thrown into Reach for the hell of it.
I find it strange that a group of AIs can just be somewhere, talking about all sorts of things directly pertaining to humanity, and humanity doesnt know about it. Where are these AIs housed? How is it that they seem to have free reign over human controlled space? It even mentions on the wiki that one of them was indirectly responsible for the human-covenant war.
I find it all rather annoyingly vague.
All of the information comes from the datapads. As far as I’m aware they are canon. I’d assume they are ancient human AIs, or maybe something similar to Chakas, a Librarian’s monitor as part of her plan to help humanity back to it’s former glory.
Wow, I had never heard of this “Assembly” Until now.
Wow, last time I checked those out was in 2010, I completely forgot about them.
I haven’t seen any info on it during any of my readings. I’d say that were composed, ancient humans, since they mentioned that they would ‘cut themselves open’ and expose themselves to the humans, which demonstrates they didn’t have the knowledge at the time to make them.
> Wow, last time I checked those out was in 2010, I completely forgot about them.
>
> I haven’t seen any info on it during any of my readings. I’d say that were composed, ancient humans, since they mentioned that they would ‘cut themselves open’ and expose themselves to the humans, which demonstrates they didn’t have the knowledge at the time to make them.
Smart AIs were made in the mid-late 21st century (as per Contact Harvest). The earliest known activity of the Assembly is 2310. They did not discuss revealing themselves until 2535 and did not agree to do so until 2552. The Assembly refer to the humans as their creators, and to themselves as the next stage of human evolution.
All evidence suggests that this group is made up of Smart AIs. Whether the members of the group change or they have somehow remained functional for so long is up for debate. I hope 343 doesn’t forget about this as I find it to be one of the most interesting parts of the Halo canon.
> Smart AIs were made in the mid-late 21st century (as per Contact Harvest). The earliest known activity of the Assembly is 2310. They did not discuss revealing themselves until 2535 and did not agree to do so until 2552. The Assembly refer to the humans as their creators, and to themselves as the next stage of human evolution.
>
> All evidence suggests that this group is made up of Smart AIs. Whether the members of the group change or they have somehow remained functional for so long is up for debate. I hope 343 doesn’t forget about this as I find it to be one of the most interesting parts of the Halo canon.
The most interesting part to me is how one of them was indirectly responsible for the entire human-covenant war. How is that even possible?
Plus the miryad of other questions that are left unanswered about them. One of the most interesting unknowns pertaining to HALO that ive come across in awhile.
Oh man I remember reading about the Assembly after finding the first datapad in Reach, and eventually just forgot about them. I wonder if they’ll factor into the future Halo games, or if they’ll be left as a mystery.
I’ve been trying to find what The Assembly actually had to contribute to the Halo canon. I found all of them and read all of them but want to know what they mean in the larger scale and if they are important at all.
Someone earlier mentioned that they might be Ancient Human AIs, which is intriguing. They seem to be Smart AIs, but they clearly lasted for more than 7 years.
> > Smart AIs were made in the mid-late 21st century (as per Contact Harvest). The earliest known activity of the Assembly is 2310. They did not discuss revealing themselves until 2535 and did not agree to do so until 2552. The Assembly refer to the humans as their creators, and to themselves as the next stage of human evolution.
> >
> > All evidence suggests that this group is made up of Smart AIs. Whether the members of the group change or they have somehow remained functional for so long is up for debate. I hope 343 doesn’t forget about this as I find it to be one of the most interesting parts of the Halo canon.
>
> The most interesting part to me is how one of them was indirectly responsible for the entire human-covenant war. How is that even possible?
>
> Plus the miryad of other questions that are left unanswered about them. One of the most interesting unknowns pertaining to HALO that ive come across in awhile.
I believe one of the data pads mentions one of them trying to contact the Covenant, which lead them into human space.
Another interesting bit:
“The Assembly quickly moved to keep colonization from occurring, as they had discovered the presence of Forerunner artifacts independently of the UNSC and feared that humanity would not be ready to learn about the existence of alien life.”
This is pertaining to the shield world Onyx. This group of AIs seemed to have considerable power if they were able to act in ways that were hidden from humanity. I find it harder and harder to believe that these AI were simply smart AI created by humans.
> Another interesting bit:
>
> “The Assembly quickly moved to keep colonization from occurring, as they had discovered the presence of Forerunner artifacts independently of the UNSC and feared that humanity would not be ready to learn about the existence of alien life.”
>
> This is pertaining to the shield world Onyx. This group of AIs seemed to have considerable power if they were able to act in ways that were hidden from humanity. I find it harder and harder to believe that these AI were simply smart AI created by humans.
They removed Onyx from the list of planets for colonization, they did not remove it from human knowledge.
> They removed Onyx from the list of planets for colonization, they did not remove it from human knowledge.
I didnt say they removed it from human knowledge, but they hid the fact that there was forerunner technology on the planet, after discovering it “independantly of the UNSC”. This indicates that they have considerable capabilities if they were able to discern that there was forerunner tech on the planet through their own means, and were also able to somehow prevent it from being colonized by humanity. It then took an entire year for archeological teams to find the alien artifacts.
The simple fact that they were able to know about the forerunner tech present on the planet before humanity raises alot of questions about what they are, where they are, and who really made them since I dont know of any smart AIs made by current humans that would have the capabilities of The Assembly.
I’ve been wondering why seemingly nothing ever came about concerning the Assembly. From an internal politics standpoint, I’ve wondered if it was a direction that Bungie wanted to go in but that for whatever reasons 343i abandoned. I’ve also wondered just how much creative control 343i has over Halo and how much influence Microsoft may or may not exert in that regard.
Politics aside, the Assembly intrigued me and I’d hoped Halo 4 might have them in it. So far, no luck. I also hoped that there might be a book or possibly a book series about them, but all of the media 343i is producing right now will be focused on supporting the direction they’re going in with their trilogy. I have no interest in owning Halo 4, but I’ve been keeping up on Youtube with it’s cinematics. I hope that the Assembly somehow fits into what they do in the future.
> > They removed Onyx from the list of planets for colonization, they did not remove it from human knowledge.
>
> I didnt say they removed it from human knowledge, but they hid the fact that there was forerunner technology on the planet, after discovering it “independantly of the UNSC”. This indicates that they have considerable capabilities if they were able to discern that there was forerunner tech on the planet through their own means, and were also able to somehow prevent it from being colonized by humanity. It then took an entire year for archeological teams to find the alien artifacts.
>
> The simple fact that they were able to know about the forerunner tech present on the planet before humanity raises alot of questions about what they are, where they are, and who really made them since I dont know of any smart AIs made by current humans that would have the capabilities of The Assembly.
There is nothing to suggest that they discovered it without human assistance. All evidence suggests that they control what information is known and accessible, and what is hidden.
The Data Pad that talks about Onyx has a few key lines that must be taken into account:
“now you see they want to help but they don’t want us to see them doing it 6ecause they are afraid of what we might do”
" Honored members. Please! the recent discovery of the existence of extra-solar intelligence in the Zeta Doradus system [ref. XF-063] merely confirms this body’s long-held supposition."
“while the absence of any living representatives implies this intelligence is defunct, all evidence should still be withheld from our creators until they are properly prepared!
Yes, this body must solemnly commit itself to determining whether or not this discovery represents a quantifiable threat to the long-term genetic sustainability of our creator’s species.”
“</ Debate is now closed! Voting will commence! />
< Is it the opinion of this body that [ref. XF-063] be quarantined or misplaced? />
>> The Majority approves removing [ref. XF-063] from the list of colonization candidates is sufficient. >>
</ Is it the opinion of this body that [ref. XF-063] be removed from the list because of financial or environmental concerns? />
>> The Majority deems environmental concerns the stronger deterrent.”
It is stated, quite clearly, that humanity are the creators of the Assembly. Other Data Pads support not only this, but their existence as Smart AIs. Onyx was discovered by humans, and hidden by the Assembly. It has been explicitly stated that the planet was discovered in 2491 by the UNSC Engineering Corps. It was in the same year that the Assembly covered it up.
The Data Pads quite clearly show that the Assembly operate through the manipulation of information, rather than any direct action.
After re-reading the data pads again, im even more confused.
It mentions in afew places that the AI involved might be alot older than humanity is capable of having made them.
Plus now I wonder who the “author/narrator” of the data pads is. They mention that they were “buried in the guts of machines”, as if they are an AI, but it also says “when i came to reach one of the first things i did was to look for some grass to stand on” which would indicate some sort of actual corporeal form.
While it does refer to humanity as its creators, it never really mentions if it is current humanity. Its not entirely outside the realm of possibility that they are constructs of ancient humans, or perhapse even forerunner AI(im not sure if HALO:Reach was created when the idea was that forerunner and humans were intended to be the same race).
And while it does say that humans discovered Onyx, a point which I never contested, they dont find any of the forerunner technology/artifacts until 2492, an entire year after the assembly was aware of the alien presence. This would indicate that the assembly somehow aquired knowledge of this alien tech without the aid of humans, and prior to any humans having discovered it themselves.
“How have our creators, and thus we, their artificial creations” This line would support the idea that these AI are infact just smart AI created by humanity in the 21st century, if not prove it completely. But there are still things that dont seem to fit into this idea. The fact that, despite these constructs supposedly being smart AIs, they show no sign of real emotional attachment to humanity aside from being shepards.
For those who want to read up on the Assembly, there is nothing no more valuable than Slightly Live’s Triumverate articles.
Was sincerely hoping Cortana would meet/speak to the Assembly in H4. Maybe better luck in H5…