Google's AI division strikes game-changing deal with unexpected partner: 'More complex than anything an engineer would craft'

Google's artificial intelligence division recently announced a new partnership with a firm researching nuclear-fusion power. The goal is to push forward the timeline to bring fusion energy to the grid.

Google DeepMind has joined forces with Commonwealth Fusion Systems, with three main objectives: to build a fast and accurate plasma simulation, to find the most efficient way to utilize fusion energy, and to develop real-time control methods.

CFS aims to demonstrate fusion power by early 2027. DeepMind will provide AI software to allow researchers to better understand the behavior of plasma.

The companies said that future AI could "learn adaptive strategies more complex than anything an engineer would craft, especially when balancing multiple constraints and objectives."

Nuclear fusion happens when two atomic nuclei combine their masses, releasing huge amounts of energy. Fusion only occurs in plasma, a highly energetic state of matter that must be kept at an extremely high temperature to harness. The sun and other stars are fueled by the process.

Fusion energy offers a virtually limitless power source that produces no carbon pollution. Unlike nuclear fission, the process of nuclear fusion does not produce unstable radioactive waste. It's also considered to be safer than the process of fission because it's not based on a chain reaction.

Right now, fusion can generate energy, but it's not enough to offset the energy it uses. Fusion fuel must be heated up to around 90 million degrees Fahrenheit and pressurized to just the right conditions to achieve the reaction. Research is possibly decades away from commercial viability, and development will be very costly.

While commercial fusion energy may be a long way off, collaborations between research giants like DeepMind and CFS are crucial to its development. The concept could play a key role in creating a cleaner, brighter future for all.

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