Quantum Computing : the new AI hype? – Team-BHP

We have an excellent thread on AI, have a look here:

https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/shift...ml#post4251017 (Artificial Intelligence: How far is it?)

But let's face it, AI and ML (Machine Learning) have been around in practical applications for about a decade if not longer. Most people just never realised these days AI/ML is embedded in many products and services we use on a day-to-day basis. The latest developments in products such as ChatGP has put AI on the agenda of many folks. Including the political agenda. Which if anything shows, how much politics, policymakers and the general public are behind in terms of understanding what AI/ML is.

I have been involved in the application of AI and ML to our products and services for the last 7-8 years or so. We make extensive use of both. I used to work for Ericsson. We implement it in our products, we use it in our R&D and we also use it in our Managed Services, where we take over the day-to-day operation of (mobile) networks from our customers. We use AI/ML for a wide variety of services. E.g. for network optimisation, preventive maintenance prediction etc.

It is all pretty cool but in all honesty, it is also very much part of our daily work. Nothing special. I retired from Ericsson some time ago. During my last year, I also started looking into what Quantum Computing could mean for us and our customers.

So for me, AI/ML is old school to a large extent. Just existing technology is being explored further. Nothing new under the sun.

Last couple of years I have been fascinated by the various Quantum Technologies.

Just for a bit of context; Quantum technologies are a loose set of nascent technologies that harness the principles of quantum mechanics to enable revolutionary breakthroughs across various fields. Quantum technologies can be grouped into three main areassensing, communication, and computing.

I am interested to hear what our members think and know about Quantum Computing. I think it is fascinating. It is completely different from our current ways of building computers and its potential is huge.

I enrolled in an exciting course about Quantum Computing, Leadership and Innovation. Organised by this Dutch organisation called Comenius.

About Comenius

This course was not so much about the technology perse, but more about how to deal with the technology from a leadership perspective, from an ethical perspective, from an organisational perspex

I have had the pleasure of attending several of their courses before. The most memorable one was about Complexity and Innovation which was held at the Sante Fe Science Institute in New Mexico.

Unfortunately, due to health problems, I had to cancel my participation in the Quantum course. But I am an alumnus of Comenius and they organise regular meetings about all kinds of topics for their alumni.

They always have a wide range of different topics and very interesting lecturers. From politicians, scientists, people from the art and culture world and so on.

Earlier this week I attended one of the alumni sessions at the TNO in Delft, the Netherlands. TNO is a very well-established and respected research organisation in the Netherlands (https://www.tno.nl/en/)

They had arranged for two speakers on two very different topics. One topic was about the equipment TNO has developed to measure actual emission with very high resolution and accuracy from space, by satellite. The other topic was Quantum Computer.

I have, of course, read about Quantum Computing, but this was the very time I got to see one. TNO has built their own!!

Here you see it.

Current Quantum Computers are very small chips cooled down to almost 0 degrees Kelvin. So most of what you see is about the cooling, not the computing as such. Here is a photograph of what is inside that white tube.

What everybody, and I mean everybody, including the top experts on this topic, will tell you: Nobody and we mean NOBODY fully understands quantum computing.

I happen to be extremely well-versed in not understanding quantum computing. So for some of the below, I have borrowed heavily from the Internet. (It might be incorrect, but it would be hard to prove it of course as we will see).

The basics of quantum computing are of course covered in quantum mechanics. Those were established some 100 years ago, by the likes such as Bohr, Schrdinger, Heisenberg, Born, Dirac and a bunch of other scientists. Einstein at the time famously rejected quantum mechanics!

Quantum mechanics is a fundamental theory in physics that describes the behaviour of nature at the scale of atoms and subatomic particles. It is the foundation of all quantum physics including quantum chemistry, quantum field theory, quantum technology, and quantum information science.

Classical physics, the collection of theories that existed before the advent of quantum mechanics, describes many aspects of nature at an ordinary (macroscopic) scale but is not sufficient for describing them at small (atomic and subatomic) scales. Most theories in classical physics can be derived from quantum mechanics as an approximation valid at a large (macroscopic) scale.

So what is the difference between a classic (current) computer and a quantum computer:

A quantum computer is a device that manipulates information using the mathematics of quantum mechanics, as opposed to binary logic. For example, a quantum computer doesnt represent information as 1s and 0s. Instead, its basic unit of information, known as a qubit, corresponds to the probability of being either 1 or 0. The qubits state is like a coin flipping in the air: before landing, the coins state is neither heads nor tails, but some probability of either. In quantum lingo, the coin is in a superposition of heads and tails. Similarly, a qubit represents a superposition of 1 and 0.

Erwin Schrdinger famously illustrated the concept of a superposition in a thought experiment involving a cat in a box with a vial of poison and a radioactive substance. When the radioactive substance decays, it releases a particle that triggers the release of the poison, killing the cat. According to quantum mechanics, before anyone opens the box, the cat is technically in a superposition of being dead and alive at the same time.

By exploiting superposition and other quantum properties, such as entanglement, a quantum computer is capable of fundamentally different mathematical operations than classical computing.

So quantum computers are all about qubits. We (well, some scientists, not me or you most likely) can produce different kinds of qubits. Three common types of qubits are superconducting qubits, photonic qubits, and Rydberg atom qubits. (there are at least 7 different kinds of qubits, but these three are the most commonly used ones). Have a look here for more information: https://www.aliroquantum.com/blog/qn...0disadvantages.

It is extremely difficult to capture and observe these qubits. One of the reasons for cooling them down to near absolute zero is to try and minimize any interference and noise.

One of the big challenges with quantum mechanics is that it is completely counterintuitive. It requires many years of working with math and doing experiments to familiarize yourself with it. We discussed if the current or next generation of students would find it easier and more intuitive. There were a couple of students present. They all agreed, that it never becomes intuitive, at best it becomes familiar and you adapt.

It is a way of thinking that is, to some extent, science fiction for most of us. How can a particle tunnel through something? How do we know the status of a particle we know by observing it, that it changes its status. How does one particle influence the status of another particle very far from it (so-called entanglement)

A couple of my takeaways:

1 Quantum Computer applications: Quantum Computers are more suited for very complex types of calculations rather than handling vast amounts of data. So the notion that Quantum computers are going to enhance our weather forecasting capabilities big time is probably not realistic. Weather forecasting requires working with gigantic amounts of data. The limitation is very much related to the number of qubits you can have on a chip/computer.

Problems in cryptography, optimization, and material science can potentially be solved exponentially faster on a quantum computer.

Due to the intrinsic working of Quantum computers, the outcome is never exact. It comes with a probabilityThisch is fine for many applications, but sometimes you need an exact answer. If you ask a quantum computer what the square root of 9 is, the answer is something along the lines of: 3, with a probability of 99,99%.

2 Quantum Computer energy efficiency: Quantum computers are extremely energy efficient. The chips are cooled down to almost absolutely zero, but even that requires little power. Its energy efficiency is also

That is when you compare them on an apple-to-apple comparison. E.g. compare a classic supercomputer with a Quantum Computer with the same computing power. If anything the supercomputer will do the same calculations much more quickly,

3 China and Quantum Computing Whereas most of the Western scientific world is pretty open about their research in quantum computing, China is much less so. However, there is no doubt that China is investing BIG time in Quantum Computing. It is hard to get an accurate estimate of the total funding China is pouring into Quantum Computing, but it is likely to be in the order of magnitude of what all other countries jointly put in.

Like other emerging technologies, quantum has become a crux of China-U.S. competition. The first country to operationalize quantum technologies will possess a toolkit of capabilities that can overwhelm unprepared adversaries. Quantum-enabled countries could crack existing encryption methods, build unbreakable encrypted communications networks, and develop the worlds most precise sensors. The country leading in quantum will be able to threaten adversaries corporate, military, and government information infrastructure faster than an adversary can implement effective defences.

Quantum technologies also carry immense potential market value, with quantum computing alone expected to reach a global market value of $1 trillion by 2035. The first country to commercialize quantum will have an upper hand in establishing market dominance, developing quantum governance models, and pursuing novel quantum applications. Because quantum is an enabling technology, advancement in QIS may also catalyze a series of disruptive innovations in other profitable technology areas, such as artificial intelligence.

4 Encryption One of the BIG applications for quantum computing appears to be encryption, and certainly the breaking of existing encryptions. See item 3 as well.

However, we are able today to develop an encryption algorithm that can not be broken by even Quantum Computers. The folks from TNO we met with have just published a paper to this effect!

5 How real is it all?

You can buy a quantum computer today, or get access to one in the cloud. So that is pretty real! Even so, these are quantum computers with just a few qubits so they are quite limited in what they can do.

Some of the big tech companies, such as IBM and Google are investing big time into this new technology.

If you follow this topic you will read about break through left, right and center every few months. The reality is we are probably still quite some time away from a quantum computer that will outperform a current super computer one way or the other.

6 Ethical perspective We talked a bit about the ethical aspects of this new technology. Should we be developing such technologies? It is easy to see some advantages, but the disadvantages, or negatives are immense as well. We know that some of the scientists who worked on the invention of the A-bomb afterwards said they should have stopped working on it. All the scientists we met said the same. They would stop if it became obvious if and when the disadvantages would outweigh the advantages for us humans.

7 Technical skills and competence Quantum computing requires a very different skill and competence set from working with classic computers. Folks who would be considered top experts in writing algorithms for AI would be out of their debts in the quantum world.

Interestingly enough, some of the algorithms developed for quantum computing have also led to new insight and improvements in AI algorithms.

Anyway, again I find this a hugely interesting topic. Even though I struggle with the basic understanding of how it all works.

I would be interested to learn from other members what they know and or think about Quantum Computing,

Jeroen

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Quantum Computing : the new AI hype? - Team-BHP