Artificial intelligence, what will happen when it becomes quantum?

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What happened to the quantum computer? He’s alive and fighting with us, one might say. Because while it is true that generative artificial intelligence has somehow occupied all the spaces of technology (and non-tech) news, the race for the qubit has not suffered any setbacks. And that’s good. A few days ago, in fact, the news of IBM’s 100-million-dollar investment to build, in partnership with the universities of Tokyo and Chicago, a 100,000-qubit quantum-centric supercomputer was announced. With this machine, Big Blue’s men declare, they would like to address some of the world’s most urgent problems, which even today’s most advanced supercomputers may not be able to solve.

Only a few months ago, at the end of February, Google explained in the journal Nature that it had found a way to correct the errors of the quantum computer. The result is defined by the Mountain View engineers themselves as a “scientific milestone” because error correction in quantum computing, unlike what happens in traditional computers, is an extremely important step in order to develop a quantum machine effectively usable. Even in Italy something has moved. The Federico II University of Naples has started a collaboration with the American Seeqc to work on the first full-stack quantum computer.

But the most interesting aspect is the work on mathematics. Universities continue to study how quantum algorithms can run on these new hardware. What is defined as Quantum Artificial Intelligence is in fact the new frontier. The farthest but most promising one. The experts, the real ones who work in these fields, are all quite convinced that the convergence between quantum computing and artificial intelligence could lead to unprecedented discoveries. Quantum machine learning, a fusion of quantum computing and artificial intelligence, could potentially accelerate the learning process of AI systems.

The effects, as the Cnr researchers explain, range from health to aerospace, to the optimization of industrial processes. In particular, some positive results come in the resolution of complex challenges related to optimization such as itinerary planning, supplier management and financial portfolio management. In these areas, the unique ability of quantum computing is to quickly find the optimal solution by analyzing huge amounts of heterogeneous data. The potential is huge. Maybe even bigger than generative AI.