WWhen Lawrence Guzman was looking for a PhD topic in the 1970s, computing laboratories were already buzzing with smart people proposing smart research in artificial intelligence. “But the problem was, there was nothing that could do them,” he says. “The required processor was not present.”
It took half a century for computing power to catch up to the potential of AI. Now, thanks to powerful chips like California-based Nvidia's GPU, Generative Artificial Intelligence (Gen AI), the way we work, study, and consume entertainment is revolutionizing the way we work, study, and consume entertainment, allowing people to create tailored articles, You can now create images, videos, and content. Music plays instantly. This technology has spawned a slew of competing consumer apps that offer enhanced speech recognition, graphic design, and even coding.
Now, AI is poised to receive an additional boost from a radical new form of computing: quantum. “Quantum has the potential to do some really amazing things with AI,” says Gasman, founder of Inside Quantum Technology.
Rather than relying on the binary “bits” of traditional computing (switches denoted by 1 and 0), quantum is a multivariate system that exists in a constant proportion of both states simultaneously, similar to a coin spinning in the air. Uses “qubits”. The result has been an exponential increase in computing power and the ability to intuitively mimic natural processes that rarely conform to binary formats.
gen AI's consumer-focused applications have had a broader and more immediate impact, but quantum has become more industrial-oriented, which may mean some recent milestones have been less noticeable. means. But they could potentially accelerate the AI revolution.
“Generative AI is one of the best things to happen to quantum computing,” says Raj Hazra, CEO of Colorado-based quantum startup Quantinuum. “Quantum computing is one of the best things to happen to advances in generative AI. They are the perfect partners.”
After all, AI relies on the ability to process vast stacks of information, and that's where quantum excels. In December, IBM announced its latest processor called Heron. The processor boasts 133 qubits, the highest error reduction in the company's history, and the ability to link together in System Two, the company's first modular quantum computer. Additionally, IBM announced another chip, Condor, with 1,121 superconducting qubits arranged in a honeycomb pattern. These advances mean that “we are now entering an era of what we call 'quantum utility,' where quantum is being used as a tool,” said IBM Quantum Vice President, Jay Gambetta told TIME.
Because qubits are very delicate subatomic particles, they do not always behave in the same way. In other words, quantum relies on both increasing the overall number of qubits to “check” calculations and increasing their individual precision. The different technologies used to create quantum effects prioritize different aspects of this equation, making direct comparisons very difficult and reinforcing the esoteric nature of the technologies..
IBM uses superconducting qubits, which must be cooled to near absolute zero to reduce thermal noise, maintain quantum coherence, and minimize environmental interactions. However, Quantinuum uses an alternative “trapped ion” technology, which uses a magnetic field to hold ions (charged atoms) in a vacuum. This technology does not require cooling, but is considered more difficult to scale. However, Quantanium claimed in April that it had achieved 99.9% fidelity for its qubits.
“Our approach to trapping ions is miles ahead of everyone else,” Hazra says. Gambetta, on the other hand, argues that superconducting quantum has advantages in scaling, speed of quantum interactions, and leveraging existing semiconductor and microwave technologies to speed progress.
The jury is still out, as the numerous competing non-linear metrics make it impossible for an unbiased observer to determine who is actually winning in this race.. “These are very different approaches, and both show promise,” said Scott Likens, global AI and innovation technology lead at PwC business consultancy. “I don’t see a clear winner yet, but I’m really looking forward to it.”
Gambetta and Hazra agree that quantum has the potential to work with AI to create truly amazing hybrid results. “I would love to see quantum for AI and AI for quantum,” Gambetta says. “The synergies between the two, and advances in technology in general, make a lot of sense.”
Hazra agrees: “Generative AI will require the power of quantum computing to make fundamental advances.” For Hazra, the Fourth Industrial Revolution will be led by generative AI, but supported by the power of quantum computing. “Both AI workloads and quantum computing computing infrastructure are needed,” he said.
This is a view shared across the Pacific by China, which has invested an estimated $25 billion in the quantum field, dwarfing any other country in the world. Professor Pan Jianwei, China's top quantum expert, has developed a Jiuzhang quantum computer that he claims can perform certain AI-related calculations about 180 million times faster than the world's top supercomputers.
In a paper published last May in the peer-reviewed journal Physical Review Letters, Jiuzhang presents over 2,000 samples of two common AI-related algorithms (Monte Carlo and simulated annealing) as the world's fastest It took less than a second to do something that would take a classic supercomputer five years. . In October, Mr. Pan announced his Jiuzhang 3.0. This he claims is 10 quintillion times faster than traditional supercomputers at solving certain problems.
Jiuzhang also makes use of a third quantum technology: light, or photons, and Pan is widely hailed as China's quantum king. Mr. Pan, a physics professor at the University of Science and Technology of China, launched Micius, the world's first quantum communication satellite, in 2016 and a year later entangled it for the world's first quantum-secured video call. Photons were sent between Earths.
Misius is considered a quantum “Sputnik” moment, prompting U.S. policymakers to pour hundreds of millions of dollars into quantum information science through the National Quantum Initiative. Bills such as the Innovation and Competition Act of 2021 provide $1.5 billion for communications research, including quantum technology. The Biden administration's 2024 budget proposal includes $25 billion for “emerging technologies” such as AI and quantum. Eventually, quantum's incredible computing power will render all existing cryptography obsolete, creating a security migraine for governments and businesses everywhere.
Quantum's potential to accelerate AI also applies to the increasing technology competition between the world's superpowers. In 2021, the U.S. Department of Commerce added eight Chinese quantum computing organizations to its Entity List, stating that they are “supporting the People's Liberation Army's military modernization” and employing U.S. technology for “anti-stealth and anti-submarine applications.” He claimed to be developing “, and ability''. This is to remove the encryption. ”
These restrictions are in line with a number of measures targeting China's AI ambitions, including blocking Nvida from selling AI chips to Chinese companies last year. The question is whether competition between the world's top two economies will hinder overall progress on AI and quantum, or whether countries will accelerate these technologies. The answer can be wide-ranging.
“AI can accelerate quantum computing, and quantum computing can accelerate AI,” Google CEO Sundar Pichai told MIT Technology Review in 2019. These are the issues we face, such as climate change. ”
Still, both the United States and China must overcome the same human resources hurdle. Only a few universities around the world offer quantum physics or quantum mechanics, but specialized courses in quantum computing are even rarer, let alone expertise in the various specialties within it. “Typically, the most valuable and rarest resources are the basis of competitive advantage,” Hazra says. “And what matters now in the quantum field are the people who have that knowledge.”