Rumours Suggest Google Achieves Quantum Supremacy!
You probably might have heard the news that Google has attained the elusive quantum supremacy — ascertained by a recently published paper(now missing) on NASA’s official website.
I casually opened my laptop while sipping on my morning coffee and almost threw up on the screen when I read the heading “Google claims to have reached quantum supremacy.” Trust me if you didn’t do the same thing you should have as I will try to explain in this piece. But, why am I so jumpy about this topic and what is quantum supremacy to start with and why is it trending everywhere?
Because it’s never been done before! Only if the report is true, of course.
It’s like walking on the moon for the first time or climbing the Everest for the first time, or anything that you can imagine that was done or can be done for the first time.
What does the report suggest?
On September 20, 2019, Financial Times reported that Google has claimed to reach quantum supremacy. This report was the result of a paper that was published — now removed — on NASA’s official website probably elaborating the achievement.
The report suggests that a Google designed 54-qubit quantum computer has successfully solved the very first quantum problem. Out of the 54-qubit system, 53 bits were working.
If reports are to be believed the Google quantum computer ran a number of mathematical procedures and accomplished them in just 200 seconds. It would take 10,000 years for the fastest and most advanced supercomputer to solve the same problem.
I don’t know where to have we — fortunately or unfortunately — treaded, but if this is true it is certainly remarkable as certain industry experts have pointed out.
Imagine that thing sitting in some Google lab, having just solved something that’s exponentially difficult for our best of the computers. It’s like making a molehill out of a mountain in 200 seconds. See, how crazy that sounds.
However — and — as there’s always a however. It’s important to note here that the problem was specifically designed for a quantum computer. Which essentially means that it was created just to test if quantum computing is feasible. Simply put, it can’t even run on a traditional computer. Because — quantum rules.
To put it in perspective, it is like this movie ‘The Current War,’ where Thomas Alva Edison (Played by Benedict Cumberbatch) electrocutes a poor horse to showcase that alternating current (AC) is harmful.
In this case, Google’s quantum computer just proves how much better or “supreme” it is when compared to classical computers in certain tasks. In this case, it could be the series of operations that the 54-qubit computer has performed.
What’s Quantum Supremacy?
It’s the ability of a quantum computer to solve certain problems such as simulating nature or chemical compositions, which are beyond the scope of classical computers or will take them exponential time to solve.
What’s beyond the scope of our current hardware? For instance, simulating random things like the flow of every particle in a river stream.
Major difference between Quantum and Classical Computers
As you might know, classical computers work with 0s and 1s to successfully understand the algorithm. A bit can either hold a 0 or a 1 at any given time.
Quantum computers — on the other hand — use qubits, which can be both 0 and 1 at the same time. This is decided by the spin of the qubit and the result is only obtained when quantum entanglement happens.
Industry Reaction
Since Google is not the only one trying to develop the practical application of quantum computers there are mixed reactions from other players like IBM.
Some experts have called it an important “milestone,” while some have termed it as “wrong.”
Most importantly, Google is still tounge-tied about the research paper and the situation. It would be interesting to see what they come up with since there’s quite a hoopla around the claim.
It would also be interesting to see how this quantum race unfolds in the near future and what it holds for humanity. As for the bragging rights, I think Google had its fair share. Ain’t it? Cheers.
