Executive Summary

The quantum race is already underway. Governments and private investors all around the world are pouringbillions of dollarsinto quantum research and development. Satellite-based quantum key distribution for encryption has been demonstrated, laying the groundwork fora potential quantum security-based global communication network.IBM, Google, Microsoft, Amazon, and other companies are investing heavilyin developing large-scale quantum computing hardware and software. Nobody is quite there yet. Even so, business leaders should consider developing strategies to address three main areas: 1.) planning for quantum security, 2.) indentifying use cases for quantum computing, and 3.) thinking through responsible design. By planning responsibly, while also embracing future uncertainty, businesses can improve their odds of being ready for the quantum future.

Quantum physics has already changed our lives. Thanks to the invention of the laser and the transistor both products of quantum theory almost every electronic device we use today is an example of quantum physics in action. We may now be on the brink of a second quantum revolution as we attempt to harness even more of the power of the quantum world. Quantum computing and quantum communication could impact many sectors, including healthcare, energy, finance, security, and entertainment. Recent studies predict a multibillion-dollar quantum industry by 2030. However, significant practical challenges need to be overcome before this level of large-scale impact is achievable.

Although quantum theory is over a century old, the current quantum revolution is based on the more recent realization that uncertainty a fundamental property of quantum particles can be a powerful resource. At the level of individual quantum particles, such as electrons or photons (particles of light), its impossible to precisely know every property of the particle at any given moment in time. For example, the GPS in your car can tell you your location and your speed and direction all at once, and precisely enough to get you to your destination. But a quantum GPS could not simultaneously and precisely display all those properties of an electron, not because of faulty design, but because the laws of quantum physics forbid it. In the quantum world, we must use the language of probability, rather than certainty. And in the context of computing based on binary digits (bits) of 0s and 1s, this means that quantum bits (qubits) have some likelihood of being a 1 and some likelihood of being 0 at the same time.

Such imprecision is at first disconcerting. In our everyday classical computers, 0s and 1s are associated with switches and electronic circuits turning on and off. Not knowing if they are exactly on or off wouldnt make much sense from a computing point of view. In fact, that would lead to errors in calculations. But the revolutionary idea behind quantum information processing is that quantum uncertainty a fuzzy in-between superposition of 0 and 1 is actually not a bug, but a feature. It provides new levers for more powerful ways to communicate and process data.

One outcome of the probabilistic nature of quantum theory is that quantum information cannot be precisely copied. From a security lens, this is game-changing. Hackers trying to copy quantum keys used for encrypting and transmitting messages would be foiled, even if they had access to a quantum computer, or other powerful resources. This fundamentally unhackable encryption is based on the laws of physics, and not on the complex mathematical algorithms used today. While mathematical encryption techniques are vulnerable to being cracked by powerful enough computers, cracking quantum encryption would require violating the laws of physics.

Just as quantum encryption is fundamentally different from current encryption methods based on mathematical complexity, quantum computers are fundamentally different from current classical computers. The two are as different as a car and a horse and cart. A car is based on harnessing different laws of physics compared to a horse and cart. It gets you to your destination faster and to new destinations previously out of reach. The same can be said for a quantum computer compared to a classical computer. A quantum computer harnesses the probabilistic laws of quantum physics to process data and perform computations in a novel way. It can complete certain computing tasks faster, and can perform new, previously impossible tasks such as, for example, quantum teleportation, where information encoded in quantum particles disappears in one location and is exactly (but not instantaneously) recreated in another location far away. While that sounds like sci-fi, this new form of data transmission could be a vital component of a future quantum internet.

A particularly important application of quantum computers might be to simulate and analyze molecules for drug development and materials design. A quantum computer is uniquely suited for such tasks because it would operate on the same laws of quantum physics as the molecules it is simulating. Using a quantum device to simulate quantum chemistry could be far more efficient than using the fastest classical supercomputers today.

Quantum computers are also ideally suited for solving complex optimization tasks and performing fast searches of unsorted data. This could be relevant for many applications, from sorting climate data or health or financial data, to optimizing supply chain logistics, or workforce management, or traffic flow.

The quantum race is already underway. Governments and private investors all around the world are pouring billions of dollars into quantum research and development. Satellite-based quantum key distribution for encryption has been demonstrated, laying the groundwork for a potential quantum security-based global communication network. IBM, Google, Microsoft, Amazon, and other companies are investing heavily in developing large-scale quantum computing hardware and software. Nobody is quite there yet. While small-scale quantum computers are operational today, a major hurdle to scaling up the technology is the issue of dealing with errors. Compared to bits, qubits are incredibly fragile. Even the slightest disturbance from the outside world is enough to destroy quantum information. Thats why most current machines need to be carefully shielded in isolated environments operating at temperatures far colder than outer space. While a theoretical framework for quantum error correction has been developed, implementing it in an energy- and resource-efficient manner poses significant engineering challenges.

Given the current state of the field, its not clear when or if the full power of quantum computing will be accessible. Even so, business leaders should consider developing strategies to address three main areas:

The rapid growth in the quantum tech sector over the past five years has been exciting. But the future remains unpredictable. Luckily, quantum theory tells us that unpredictability is not necessarily a bad thing. In fact, two qubits can be locked together in such a way that individually they remain undetermined, but jointly they are perfectly in sync either both qubits are 0 or both are 1. This combination of joint certainty and individual unpredictability a phenomenon called entanglement is a powerful fuel that drives many quantum computing algorithms. Perhaps it also holds a lesson for how to build a quantum industry. By planning responsibly, while also embracing future uncertainty, businesses can improve their odds of being ready for the quantum future.

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Are You Ready for the Quantum Computing Revolution? - Harvard Business Review

We're still a long way from realising the full potential of quantum computing, but scientists are making progress all the time and as a sign of what might be coming, IBM now says it expects to have a 1,000 qubit machine up and running by 2023.

Qubits are the quantum equivalents of classical computing bits, able to be set not just as a 1 or a 0, but as a superposition state that can represent both 1 and 0 at the same time. This deceptively simple property has the potential to revolutionise the amount of computing power at our disposal.

With the IBM Quantum Condor planned for 2023 running 1,121 qubits, to be exact we should start to see quantum computers start to tackle a substantial number of genuine real-world calculations, rather than being restricted to laboratory experiments.

IBM's quantum computing lab. (Connie Zhou for IBM)

"We think of Condor as an inflection point, a milestone that marks our ability to implement error correction and scale up our devices, while simultaneously complex enough to explore potential Quantum Advantages problems that we can solve more efficiently on a quantum computer than on the world's best supercomputers," writes physicist Jay Gambetta, IBM Fellow and Vice President of IBM Quantum.

It's a bold target to set, considering IBM's biggest quantum computer to date holds just 65 qubits. The company says it plans to have a 127-qubit machine ready in 2021, a 433-qubit one available in 2022, and a computer holding a million qubits at... some unspecified point in the future.

Today's quantum computers require very delicate, ultra-cold setups and are easily knocked off course by almost any kind of atmospheric interference or noise not ideal if you're trying to crunch some numbers on the quantum level.

What having more qubits does is provide better error correction, a crucial process in any computer that makes sure calculations are accurate and reliable, and reduces the impact of interference.

The complex nature of quantum computing means error correction is more of a challenge than normal. Unfortunately, getting qubits to play nice together is incredibly difficult, which is why we're only seeing quantum computers with qubits in the 10's right now.

Around 1,000 qubits in total still wouldn't be enough to take on full-scale quantum computing challenges, but it would be enough to maintain a small number of stable, logical qubit systems that could then interact with each other.

And while it would take more like a million qubits to truly realise the potential of quantum computing, we're seeing steady progress each year from achieving quantum teleportation between computer chips, to simulating chemical reactions.

IBM hopes that by committing itself to these targets, it can better focus its quantum computing efforts, and that other companies working in the same space will know what to expect over the coming years adding a little bit of certainty to an unpredictable field.

"We've gotten to the point where there is enough aggregate investment going on, that it is really important to start having coordination mechanisms and signaling mechanisms so that we're not grossly misallocating resources and we allow everybody to do their piece," technologist Dario Gil, senior executive at IBM, told TechCrunch.

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IBM Just Committed to Having a Functioning 1,000 Qubit Quantum Computer by 2023 - ScienceAlert

The Trump administration announced Wednesday that Boeing, Google and IBM will be among the organizations to lead efforts to research and push forward quantum computing development.

The companies will be part of the steering committee for the Quantum Economic Development Consortium (QED-C), a group thataims to identify standards, cybersecurity protocols and other needs to assist in pushing forward the quantum information science and technology industry.

The White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) and the Department of Commerces National Institute of Science and Technology (NIST) announced the members of the steering committee on Wednesday, with NIST, ColdQuanta, QC Ware, and Zapata Computing also selected to sit on the committee.

The QED-C was established by the National Quantum Initiative Act, signed into law by President TrumpDonald John TrumpHR McMaster says president's policy to withdraw troops from Afghanistan is 'unwise' Cast of 'Parks and Rec' reunite for virtual town hall to address Wisconsin voters Biden says Trump should step down over coronavirus response MORE in 2018, with the full consortium made up of over 180 industry, academic and federal organizations.

According to OSTP, the steering committee will take the lead on helping to develop the supply chain to support quantums growth in industry, and is part of the Trump administrations recent efforts to promote quantum computing.

Through the establishment of the QED-C steering committee, the Administration has reached yet another milestone delivering on the National Quantum Initiative and strengthening American leadership in quantum information science, U.S. Chief Technology Officer Michael Kratsios said in a statement. We look forward to the continued work of the QED-C and applaud this private-public model for advancing QIS research and innovation.

The establishment of the steering committee comes on the heels of the Trump administration announcing more than $1 billion in funding for new research institutes focused on quantum computing and artificial intelligence.

The announcement of the funds came after OSTP and the National Science Foundation (NSF) announced the establishment of three quantum computing centers at three different U.S. academic institutions, which involved an investment of $75 million. The establishment of these centers was also the result of requirements of the National Quantum Initiative Act.

While the Trump administration has been focused on supporting the development of quantum computing, Capitol Hill has also taken an interest.

Bipartisan members of the Senate Commerce Committee introduced legislation in January aimed at increasing investment in AI and quantum computing. A separate bipartisan group of lawmakers in May introduced a bill that would create a Directorate of Technology at the NSFthat would be given $100 billion over five years to invest in American research and technology issues, including quantum computing.

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Boeing, Google, IBM among companies to lead federal quantum development initiative | TheHill - The Hill

Artificial intelligence has been on the rise in workplaces for at least the past decade. From consumer algorithms to quantum computing, AIs uses have grown in type and scope.

There are a number of risks associated with this technology. One of the more troubling is the apparent racial bias one that assigns more negative emotions to Black people than white people, even when they are smiling.

One of the more recent advances in AI technologies is the ability to read emotions through facial and behavioral analysis. While the emotional AI technology has largely been implemented in marketing campaigns and health care, a growing number of high-profile companies are using it in hiring decisions.

Companies should stop this immediately.

There are a number of risks associated with this technology. One of the more troubling is the apparent racial bias one that assigns more negative emotions to Black people than white people, even when they are smiling.

For example, Microsofts Face API software scored Black faces as three times more contemptuous than white faces. This bias is obviously harmful in a number of ways, but its especially devastating to non-white professionals who are disadvantaged in their the ability to secure a job and progress within their field.

Any workplace that uses a hiring algorithm that disproportionately sees Black and brown people as worse emotionally will further drive workplace inequalities and discriminatory treatment.

According to a Washington Post report, more than 100 companies are currently using emotional AI, and this technology has already been used to assess millions of job applicants. Among the top-tier companies deploying emotional AI are Hilton, Dunkin Donuts, IBM and the Boston Red Sox.

Emotional AI recognition has been estimated to be at least a $20 billion market.

The technology uses facial recognition to analyze emotional and cognitive ability. Generally, an interviewee will answer preselected questions during a recorded video interview, and be assessed by the AI algorithm. The assessment provides a grade or score on various characteristics, including verbal skills, facial movements, and even emotional characteristicsall of which aim to predict how likely the candidate will succeed in a position before taking next steps.

Supporters of the technology argue that it removes human prejudice from the equation. But replacing human bias with an artificial one cant be the solution.

Moreover, companies tend to use emotional AI to screen for a very limited data set to decide who gets marked as employable. These limited data sets usually favor majority groups while ignoring minority ones. For example, if someones first language isnt English and they speak with an accent or if an applicant is disabled, they will more likely be earmarked as less employable.

The technology can also work to the disadvantage of women.

For starters, much of the AI technology fails to properly identify women even iconic women such as Oprah Winfrey and Michelle Obama. Many examples have shown that, particularly in fields that are already male dominated, women applicants are downgraded and less likely to be recommended than male applicants.

There are a plethora of other anecdotes that highlight the biases of emotional AI, even outside the workplace. These include cameras that identify Asian faces as blinking and software that misgenders those with darker skin.

Of course, companies have been warned of the ongoing biases and have so far ignored them; many still use software like HireVue, which Princeton Professor of Computer Science Arvind Narayanan described as a bias perpetuation engine. Research institute AI Now, based at New York University, has called for a complete ban on emotional AI tech.

Until emotional AI is shown to be free of racial and gender biases, its unsafe for use in a world already struggling to overcome inequalities. If companies want to assist in that struggle, they should end the use of emotional AI in the workplace.

This column was produced for the Progressive Media Project, which is run by The Progressive magazine, and distributed by Tribune News Service.

September 17, 2020

12:32 PM

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Workplace Facial Screening is a Bad Idea - Progressive.org