Quantum computing between hype and reality: MIT video with quantum engineer William Oliver
How far along are quantum computers really? In the new episode of MIT's "Curiosity Unbounded" series, President Sally Kornbluth talks with quantum engineer William D. Oliver about promise, limits and the workforce.
Photo: Anita Fors (Chalmers) / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0 (cropped and resized)
Video: YouTube · Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) · youtube.com
The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) released the 19th episode of its conversation series "Curiosity Unbounded" on 28 October, including as a video. In it, MIT President Sally Kornbluth asks professor and quantum engineer William D. Oliver which expectations of quantum computers are hype and which are reality. Topics include qubits and superposition, why quantum hardware is so hard to scale, and applications such as quantum chemistry and drug discovery.
Oliver explains the basic principle with an example: three qubits can represent eight states (2³) at once, while a group of classical transistors represents only one at a time. Commercially useful algorithms might need "a billion operations or a trillion operations," Oliver says. "We actually have quantum computers today. They're just rather small," he says, comparing the current stage to the Wright Brothers era of aviation.
Oliver does not consider the hype baseless: "the reason that there's hype is because there is absolutely bonafide promise." At the same time, the conversation warns of a "quantum winter" if expectations are disappointed. It also covers different qubit types – natural atoms and artificial atoms made from superconducting circuits – and workforce training; quantum job postings have risen "hundreds of percent" since the US quantum initiative began around 2016, according to Oliver.