AI was also 30years away forever then it was not. its a function of dollar spent researching not fairy dust powered by hopes and dreams. problem is the problem seems so unsurmountable that private sector (until now) was never interested in exploring this and govt funding is really mostly about making things blow up. so there you are. all that said the fusion triple product neutron-fluxtimeenergy has been steadily getting better over decades & hence a flurry of recent funding. That is until AI started sucking up all oxygen.