It takes years for quantum computers to reach the actual application.

Editor’s note: This article is from Tencent Technology “Silicon Valley Cover”.

[Key Points]

  • 1 A research paper published by Google researchers on NASA’s official website shows that Google Quantum Computer has achieved quantum hegemony.

  • 2The realization of “quantum hegemony” is far from overturning current encryption technology, and traditional computer and encryption security are not outdated.

  • 3Industry experts say that Google’s machines are only able to solve the problem of careful selection at an alarming rate, just to show the superiority of quantum computers.

  • 4 Quantum computers are still far from practical applications, but the term “quantum hegemony” may cause the public to expect too much.

Google says its quantum computers outperform traditional computers and have achieved “quantum hegemony.” But in fact, it takes years for quantum computers to reach the actual application.

Google

Google recently revealed “unintentionally” that it has created a history of computer science. In recent years, the company has been increasingly competitive with technology giants such as IBM and Intel in the development of quantum computers, and expects quantum computers built using quantum mechanics to solve some complex problems. Google has been expecting its own quantum computer prototype to prove “quantum hegemony”, which has also attracted the attention of the public. “Quantum hegemony” refers to experiments in which quantum computers outperform classical computers. A leading researcher in Google-related fields predicted that the company will reach this milestone in 2017.

Last month, there was news that Google has reached this milestone. The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) official website briefly published a draft study, in which Google researchers described how they achieved quantum hegemony. A few hours after the news broke out, the US Democratic presidential candidate Andrew Yang issued a tweet warning that Google’sQuantum computers may overturn current encryption technologies. But researchers in the field of quantum computing are trying to assure the world that traditional computer and encryption security is not outdated.

Google

An article that appears on the NASA website for a short time

Many experts are impressed with Google’s latest developments. John Preskill, a professor at the California Institute of Technology, coined the term “quantum hegemony” in 2011, calling it “a truly impressive achievement in experimental physics.” But he and other experts, and even Google’s own papers, warn that this result does not mean that quantum computers are ready for practical applications.

“Their machines are only able to solve the problem of careful selection at an alarming rate, just to show the superiority of quantum computers,” Preskill said. It is unclear how long it will take quantum computers to be put into commercial use. It is still unreachable to completely crack encryption technology. Jonathan Dowling, a professor at Louisiana State University, said: “It will take many years.”

Achieve “Quantum Hegemony” Experiments over Traditional Devices

Google and other companies are working hard on related research because quantum computers can theoretically solve the complex problems that traditional computers take too much time. This method attempts to use mathematics to verify quantum mechanical quirks such as wave-particle duality of light. Researchers in the 1990s found that this might provide a powerful new approach to computational processing. A researcher at Bell Labs has written an algorithm that uses a quantum computer to crack long keys, showing that the technology may surpass traditional computers, and interest in the field has increased since then.

Google

Recently, researchers in academia and business have created prototypes of quantum computers and have relied on them to implement various chemical and machine learning use cases. These devices are now able to process data, but their computing power is still too small and error-prone, making it difficult to challenge the real work of traditional computers. Considering the researcher