Putting AI to the fusion test

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By ScienceAdviser. 

Excerpt: Scientists and governments alike have spent decades chasing nuclear fusion for its potential to provide virtually limitless clean energy. Artificial intelligence may bring this power source closer by helping model the precise chemical and physical conditions needed to generate it. New research just crossed an important step toward that goal: accurately predicting the result of a fusion experiment based on the ones that came before it. At the U.S. National Ignition Facility (NIF), the world’s most energetic laser system compresses and heats a tiny nuclear capsule to spark a fusion reaction. ...researchers created a fusion model based on the outcomes of NIF experiments from 2021-2022, then combined it with generative machine learning to predict the possible outcomes of successive experiments based on the model’s previous results. ...the AI model estimated that the NIF’s next big fusion test would have a 74% chance of success—and it turned out to be right.... 

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