Google kupil kvantni računalnik za NASA

To some of us, wicked fast quantum computers seem like the stuff of theory and some far off future. Not so if you work at Google or NASA. In a sign the technology is creeping closer to practical use, Google, NASA, and the non-profit Universities Space Research Association (USRA) recently announced formation of the Quantum Artificial Intelligence Lab and seeded it with a brand new 512-qubit D-Wave Two quantum computer.

Google Buys Quantum Computer for Artificial Intelligence Lab at NASA

Kaže, da so bili narejeni prvi koraki na področju kvantnega računalništva. In vsi ti koraki so vse hitrejši in daljši:

... and according to the New York Times, the NASA Ames machine may be upgraded to a 2,048 qubit chip in the next year or two.

Gordon Moore se obrača v postelji.

In še nekaj glede zmogljivosti:

In some optimization problems, the D-Wave handily beat the test PC—finding solutions up to 3,600 times faster. But unless the problem is specially tailored to fit the quantum computer, it has to be translated. The D-Wave performed on par with the classical computer when working on problems in need of translation.

Whether the computer conforms to the favored definition of quantum computing may be largely academic. Google and its partners performed rigorous tests of the hardware before cutting D-Wave a check.

3D-Wave’s director of business, Colin Williams told the New York Times, “The tougher, more complex [problems] had better performance. For most problems, it was 11,000 times faster, but in the more difficult 50 percent, it was 33,000 times faster. In the top 25 percent, it was 50,000 times faster.”

Se pravi, da je ta D-Wave kvantni računalnik idealen za reševanje zapletenih problemov. Crysis ostaja na namiznikih, za zdaj.