Google's chip solves problem in minutes, supercomputers take billion years!
Google's Quantum AI has unveiled its latest quantum chip, Willow. This state-of-the-art chip can exponentially reduce errors as more qubits are utilized, a major breakthrough in the field of quantum error correction. Per the tech giant, this chip cracks "a key challenge in quantum error correction that the field has pursued for almost 30 years." Willow also performed a standard benchmark computation in under five minutes that would take one of today's fastest supercomputers 10 septillion (10^25) years.
A leap forward in quantum computing
This achievement is a major leap from Google's 2019 announcement, when it claimed that its quantum processor could solve a mathematical problem in three minutes. The same task would have taken a supercomputer some 10,000 years to complete. However, the claim was contested by IBM back then. Now, the new chip, Willow, has shown an even more impressive computational speed.
Google addresses error reduction in quantum computing
Along with improved performance, Google's research team has also made progress in minimizing errors, a major obstacle in quantum computing. Unlike regular computing which uses bits to represent either 1 or 0, quantum computing uses qubits. They can be in multiple states at the same time like 1, 0 and anything in between. However, since they tend to exchange information with the environment quickly, qubits are more error-prone.
Google's innovative approach to error correction
Now, Google's researchers have found an innovative solution to this problem—adding more qubits to a system and correcting errors in real time. This is a first in the field and signifies real progress toward effective error correction. They published their findings in the scientific journal, Nature. Hartmut Neven, founder of Google Quantum AI, explained that this achievement is known as being "below threshold" in the field—a term that refers to reducing errors while increasing the number of qubits.
Willow leads in quantum computing performance
Willow, which packs 105 qubits, now tops the performance chart, as per Neven. The advancement comes as other tech giants such as Microsoft, Amazon, and IBM are also working on their own quantum computing systems. Google's next goal is to perform a first "useful, beyond-classical" computation that is applicable to real-world scenarios and beyond the capabilities of conventional computers. Neven says quantum technology will be "indispensable" for collecting AI training data, eventually facilitating breakthroughs in other sectors.
