CNN —Scientists pursuing fusion energy say they have found a way to overcome one of their biggest challenges to date — by using artificial intelligence. But experts have only achieved and sustained fusion energy for a few seconds, and many obstacles remain, including instabilities in the highly complex process. “The experiments provide a foundation for using AI to solve a broad range of plasma instabilities, which have long hindered fusion energy,” a Princeton spokesperson said. Fusion energy is the process that powers the sun and other stars, and experts have been trying for decades to master it on Earth. CNNScientists and engineers near the English city of Oxford earlier this month set a new nuclear fusion energy record, sustaining 69 megajoules of fusion energy for five seconds, using just 0.2 milligrams of fuel.

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Organizations: CNN —, Princeton University, Princeton Plasma Physics, Fusion Facility, Princeton, CNN Locations: San Diego, Oxford, California