# AI is improving magnetic control in fusion experiments

Markdown copy of https://realalpha.app/s/ai-is-improving-magnetic-control-in-fusion-experiments/ on Real Alpha, the best minutes from long interviews with the people building AI. Cite and link the page, not this copy.

- Speaker: [David Friedberg](https://realalpha.app/people/david-friedberg/) · David Friedberg is an entrepreneur, investor and podcaster. · Founded The Climate Corporation, sold to Monsanto for about $1.1B in 2013.
- Host: [Chris Williamson](https://realalpha.app/people/chris-williamson/) · Host, Modern Wisdom
- Show: Modern Wisdom
- Episode: [Everything You Know Is About to Collapse - David Friedberg](https://realalpha.app/v/8s2nO_hxbLA/), Apr 13, 2026
- Moment: 31:17 to 36:03 of the episode (5 min), playing on https://realalpha.app/s/ai-is-improving-magnetic-control-in-fusion-experiments/; the episode from there: https://realalpha.app/v/8s2nO_hxbLA/?t=1877

## Quote

> “AI seems to be solving that problem because they're now **using AI to train the control** of the magnetic fields in a way that's working.”
> — [David Friedberg](https://realalpha.app/people/david-friedberg/) at [32:08](https://realalpha.app/v/8s2nO_hxbLA/?t=1928) · Modern Wisdom

## Takeaways

1. Fusion plasma is difficult to contain because its fields shift.
2. AI is being used to control magnetic fields in real time.
3. Friedberg sees lower energy costs as a major economic driver.

## About this segment

David Friedberg explains how AI is helping stabilize the magnetic fields that contain fusion plasma. He argues that sustained progress could eventually make energy far cheaper and unlock more economic activity.

From “Everything You Know Is About to Collapse - David Friedberg”, Apr 13, 2026. [Watch the full episode](https://realalpha.app/v/8s2nO_hxbLA/)

## Transcript

Transcribed by machine (Whisper) from the episode’s audio, so a word may be off here and there.

[31:21](https://realalpha.app/v/8s2nO_hxbLA/?t=1881) just jam protons together and capture that energy. So the technology to do it is you basically spin these protons around in a plasma at 100 million degrees Celsius. Some people are using these like donut-shaped toroidals. Some people are now using these sort of weird what are called stellarators. They've got crazy shapes. And much of the design of these systems on how do you get these protons to move fast enough, and the problem is when the protons get close and close together, they push each other apart so you got to use a magnetic field to squeeze these protons together so they get closer and closer and then get them to fuse the problem is as they get closer the protons make their own magnetic field that pushes back and fucks up the magnetic field that you're trying to use to squeeze them together and so it's this dynamical equilibrium problem they just

[32:07](https://realalpha.app/v/8s2nO_hxbLA/?t=1927) keep breaking and breaking and breaking and you cannot get a stable plasma at that density AI seems to be solving that problem because they're now using AI to train the control of the magnetic fields in a way that's working. And they're now able to hold these magnetic fields for 30 minutes at a time out of China now. Or, you know, started out, it went from like 17 seconds to a few. few longer to a few minutes to 30 minutes in literally like the last two and a half, three years. Like that's how quickly they're ramping up in the ability to make this happen. There's about 70 startups doing this. Just to give you a sense of what this enables. Basically, you could think about taking water, putting it into this machine, getting the protons to spin around and then extracting energy from those protons jamming together. That energy turns into electricity.

[32:55](https://realalpha.app/v/8s2nO_hxbLA/?t=1975) There's no nuclear explosion. There's no risk of the whole thing melting down. There's no nuclear material nothing's radioactive it's it's a very clean way of generating energy so it's been this kind of holy grail for the night since the 1950s when people first thought about it it needs a different name yeah what would you call it it can't have the word nuclear in it yeah it can't yeah maybe uh some people have said just call it fusion some people have said call it too close to fishing yeah people are gonna pattern match it already and they're gonna think i've heard even me let's come up with a name what do you think i think something to do with the electromagnetic uh electromagnetic energy uh element of that that doesn't feel that feels kind of green yeah that feels quite safe yeah i don't expect that

[33:39](https://realalpha.app/v/8s2nO_hxbLA/?t=2019) to explode yeah strong power weak power yeah protonics something we'll come up with something yeah yeah yeah but anyway i think that if you have nuclear in it i think it's just such a contentious topic right because it's it's everyone thinks about branding in history yeah like nuclear energy is fission where you're taking heavy heavy heavy elements like uranium yeah breaking them apart they're radioactive it's the opposite and you're getting energy out because yeah you're doing the opposite you're taking the heavier stuff and grabbing the energy when the heavier stuff becomes lighter yeah releasing that energy that it took to make it um so this is different and this you can i did the math on this basically you could use a swimming pool sized amount of ocean water to make all the electricity needed for an entire year for the planet earth

[34:22](https://realalpha.app/v/8s2nO_hxbLA/?t=2062) that's what this can do that's why it's so important that we get it done now when you do this and you it works and we're very close to having this work in industrial scale next everyone's always joked oh fusion's always like a decade away it's yeah it's you know maybe it's a decade away maybe not but it's gonna happen like we're progressing up this production curve it's gonna happen are those 30 minute long runs energy positive net positive they're still requiring net energy in because of the setup and and so on but the next phase will be to capture basically the current systems aren't just protons they put protons with neutrons And the neutrons are what get energized into the wall to heat up the wall.

[35:04](https://realalpha.app/v/8s2nO_hxbLA/?t=2104) And that's where they heat up water to turn a steam turbine. You know, like other people have other ideas that, hey, maybe we shouldn't be using a steam turbine. Isn't it mad that of all of the ways, it's still rotator thing attached to a dynamo? It is crazy. It doesn't matter what the fanciness that occurs before it. Totally. It's just dynamo and a fan. That's another thing that should likely change this century is the move away from that system.

[35:30](https://realalpha.app/v/8s2nO_hxbLA/?t=2130) where we can do direct energy capture and conversion into electricity. Because you're trying to, you're basically, the reason you do that is you're trying to get electrons to move through a wire. So you wrap a wire with magnets around a coil and you get the magnet thing to spin. The faster it spins, the more it moves the electrons through the wire. So that's the basis of that system. But there's other things that people have theorized.

[35:49](https://realalpha.app/v/8s2nO_hxbLA/?t=2149) So with this energy system, I think you're going to like drop the cost of energy, unleash productivity, unleash economic opportunity. So that's another kind of technology that I would say is like very kind of future positive