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Meet Wukong, the AI Chatbot China Has Installed on Its Space Station

Meet Wukong, the AI Chatbot China Has Installed on Its Space Station
Source: wired
Author: @wired
Published: 8/21/2025

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China has introduced Wukong, an AI chatbot named after the legendary Monkey King from Chinese mythology, aboard its Tiangong space station. Developed from a domestic open-source AI model, Wukong is tailored specifically for manned space missions, with a knowledge base focused on aerospace flight data. Connected to Tiangong on July 15 and operational a month later, Wukong supports astronauts by providing rapid information for complex operations, fault handling, psychological support, and coordination between space and ground teams. It played a key role during a six-and-a-half-hour spacewalk mission involving debris protection installation and routine station inspection. Wukong AI operates through two interconnected modules: one onboard the station handling immediate challenges, and another on Earth performing in-depth analysis. This dual-module setup allows it to adapt dynamically to mission needs, making it a sophisticated assistant focused on space navigation. While not the first AI in space—preceded by systems like NASA’s Astrobee and CIMON—Wukong

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