A team from Princeton University in the US has worked out a way to use an AI model to predict and prevent instabilities with plasma during fusion reactions.

The researchers demonstrated their model could forecast potential plasma instabilities known as tearing mode instabilities up to 300 milliseconds in advance.

While that leaves no more than enough time for a slow blink in humans, it was plenty of time for the AI controller to change certain operating parameters to avoid what would have developed into a “tear” within the plasma’s magnetic field lines, upsetting its equilibrium and opening the door for a reaction-ending escape.