‘It’s not like science fiction any more’: Nasa aiming to make spaceships talk

Dr Larissa Suzuki: ‘The idea is to get to a point where we have conversational interactions with space vehicles.’ Photograph: Graeme Robertson/The Guardian

In the film 2001: A Space Odyssey the sentient supercomputer, HAL 9000, chats conversationally to the mission pilots on a Jupiter-bound spaceship, executing their orders and alerting them to onboard faults – and eventually going rogue.

Now Nasa engineers say they are developing their own ChatGPT-style interface that could ultimately allow astronauts to talk to their spacecraft and mission controllers to converse with artificial intelligence-powered robots exploring distant planets and moons.