China brings AI Sun Wukong to "Heavenly Palace"

The newest addition to China's Tiangong space station is an AI chatbot specializing in navigation and tactical planning. It's called Wukong AI - after the main character of the Chinese mythological "Monkey King", Sun Wukong.

The AI chatbot was launched on the space station in mid-July and has already completed its first mission: assisting three astronauts on a spacewalk.

"Monkey King" Wukong as an AI Chatbot ensures the safety of astronauts on China's Tiangong Space Station. Photo: GenAI

Information about Wukong AI is still limited. Chinese authorities say it was developed from a domestic open-source AI model. According to Xinhua, China’s state news agency, engineers designed it to meet the requirements of manned space missions and focused its knowledge base on aerospace flight data.

"The system can provide rapid and effective information support for complex operations and error handling of crew members, improve work efficiency, provide psychological support on orbit and coordination between space and ground teams," Zou Pengfei of the astronaut training center told Xinhua.

Technicians connected the AI to Tiangong on July 15. The system began supporting it a month later, marking the first time the Chinese space station used a large language model (LLM) on orbital missions.

Wukong AI assisted the crew on a six-and-a-half-hour mission that included astronauts installing debris protection equipment during a spacewalk and performing routine inspections of the station.

Taikonaut astronauts claim their new assistant “provides very comprehensive content.” Chinese media describe Wukong AI as a classic Q&A system that is divided into two modules: one installed on the space station and one on Earth.

China's Tiangong space station in space. Photo: Xinhua

The ground module performs in-depth analysis, while the crew module tackles the challenges at hand. The combination of the two creates an advanced assistant that can adapt to each mission.

Wukong is not the first AI system in space, nor is it the first on the station. The International Space Station already has Astrobee, a robot that assists astronauts with routine tasks, and CIMON, a conversational psychological support system. What makes Wukong AI special is that it combines the functions of an intelligent assistant—like those used on Earth—with a focus entirely on space navigation.

Tiangong is central to China's strategy to cement its position as a space power over the next 30 years. Currently, the station serves as a microgravity laboratory for experiments that cannot be conducted on Earth. In the future, China plans to expand it and turn it into a logistics and training platform between the Moon and the Earth's surface.

So what is this AI named after? Sun Wukong is a mythical character who appears in the classic novel Journey to the West . In China, he symbolizes wisdom, adaptability, endurance, and a love of learning.