ISS astronauts to welcome a bobbing face on a screen AI bot

The International Space Station will get its first AI bot by next week, after it was bundled into a Dragon capsule and launched into space aboard Space X's Falcon Rocket on Friday. On the screen flashes a simple cartoon face known as CIMON (Crew Interactive MObile CompanioN), pronounced as Simon. CIMON was developed by Airbus and IBM. The AI bit, presumably, comes from some sort of programmed neural network that uses some of the tools from IBM's Watson platform. "In short, CIMON will be the first AI-based mission and flight assistance system," said Manfred Jaumann, Head of Microgravity Payloads at Airbus.