The AI model has been trained on data about our nearest star, and uses that data to predict things like whether a solar flare is likely to hit Earth. IBM says that it's trained using data from NASA's Solar Dynamic Observatory, which has been monitoring the sun since 2010, along with eight other research centers.

Big Blue and the US space agency are open sourcing their latest AI model, named Surya, the Sanskrit word for the Sun. This has been developed to predict the kind of violent solar flare-ups that can send a torrent of charged particles toward the Earth, potentially damaging electronic infrastructure.