Google’s DeepMind AI can now manipulate nuclear fusion

Sign up to our free weekly IndyTech newsletter delivered straight to your inbox Sign up to our free IndyTech newsletter Sign up to our free IndyTech newsletter SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy policy Google’s artificial intelligence division DeepMind has trained an AI to control the superheated plasma inside a nuclear fusion reactor, opening up new avenues to advance the arrival of unlimited clean energy. Temperatures inside a nuclear fusion reactor reach hundreds of millions of degrees, transforming matter into a plasma state that is neither solid, liquid, nor gas. In collaboration with Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne’s Swiss Plasma Center, DeepMind used its advanced deep learning tools to manipulate the superheated plasma within a magnet-based reactor, known as a tokamak. That’s where our joint research project with DeepMind comes in.” DeepMind added: “This is another powerful example of how machine learning and expert communities can come together to accelerate scientific discovery.” DeepMind first gained public recognition through its work in developing AI algorithms capable of mastering video games and beating the world’s best human players at the notoriously complex board game Go.