GUV magazine October 2019 issue editorial
It is easy enough to think of artificial intelligence and quantum technologies as modern-day concepts, as futuristic as they sound and as far-reaching their impact has the potential to be. With AI already capable of everything from identifying patients at risk of a stroke to pricing loans issued by financial institutions, it certainly feels as though its potential is being realised in front of our eyes – but its futuristic aspect of self-aware machines remains out of reach.
Quantum computing may seem more elusive, but it is much closer than one might think. Google last week published a paper in scientific journal Nature that illustrated how its quantum processor, Sycamore, achieved quantum supremacy, that is to say it was able to perform a task in 200 seconds that purportedly would have taken a supercomputer 10,000 years to complete.
That kind of timespan is long enough to consider the task impossible…
Thierry Heles
Thierry Heles is the editor of Global University Venturing, host of the Beyond the Breakthrough interview podcast and responsible for the monthly GUV Gazette (sign up here for free).
