Don't panic, but DeepMind Has Trained an AI to Control Nuclear Fusion

pcgamer.com:

Clean energy is set to play a huge part in the direction of future tech. Companies are finally pushing sustainability, be it via repairable laptops, or sneakers with cute snakes on them. But when it comes to the power that sustains the use of basically all the tech you’ll ever come into contact with, we need to be thinking a bit bigger. Nuclear fusion, despite the scary sounding moniker, has the potential to be an excellent source of clean power in the future, and we’re one step closer to being able to easily control it.

Wired reports that the Google backed artificial intelligence firm DeepMind has trained an AI to help control the plasma involved in Nuclear fusion. Nuclear fusion is the fusing of atomic nuclei, which releases huge amounts of energy. It’s what’s going on inside of a star, and despite involving impossibly hot plasma, is earmarked as a good clean source of energy, with fuel being sourced from seawater. It’s still just a matter of controlling it, and thankfully putting that in the hands of an AI isn't anywhere near as terrifying as it sounds. Yet.

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Physicists use a device called a tokamak to contain and control these reactions. It’s shaped like a donut, or more scientifically speaking a delicious torus, and uses magnetic coils which can be controlled to help shape and control the plasma. It’s not particularly risky to the scientists involved, but this magnetic field needs to keep the plasma away from the walls inside the tokamak to avoid damaging the device and slowing down the reaction.

This process is described a bit similarly to shaping pottery on a wheel,