Google Buys a Quantum Computer

CommanderFrank

CommanderFrank

Cat Can't Scratch It
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Google is teaming up with NASA to create a lab dedicated to the study of artificial intelligence. To accomplish this task, the team has purchased a quantum computer from D-Wave Systems and will be up and running in Q3 this year.

The Quantum Artificial Intelligence Lab, as the entity is called, will focus on machine learning, which is the way computers take note of patterns of information to improve their outputs.
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I feel like I've been living under a rock. I didn't know there were even fully functional prototypes of quantum computers yet, let alone commercially available models.
 
serpretetsky said:
I feel like I've been living under a rock. I didn't know there were even fully functional prototypes of quantum computers yet, let alone commercially available models.
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The D-Wave is not a quantum computer in the traditionally understood sense (i.e. gate theory); rather, it is an adiabatic quantum computer which uses quantum annealing to solve very specific types of mathematical problems. The D-Wave is not suitable as a general purpose computer because you can only solve very specific types of problems (and in addition, it uses an enormous amount of power because the chips have to be cooled to near absolute zero for quantum annealing to work).
 
I wish didn't have a nightmare about this exact same scenario. It's so bad I'm not going to talk about it because it was so damn vivid and real :(...
 
serpretetsky said:
I feel like I've been living under a rock. I didn't know there were even fully functional prototypes of quantum computers yet, let alone commercially available models.
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I agree. I knew there were some prototypes that were absolutely massive and looked like some kind of steampunk project, but... what? really? Can I buy one and finally play Crysis??!!!! :D
 
damicatz said:
The D-Wave is not a quantum computer in the traditionally understood sense (i.e. gate theory); rather, it is an adiabatic quantum computer which uses quantum annealing to solve very specific types of mathematical problems. The D-Wave is not suitable as a general purpose computer because you can only solve very specific types of problems (and in addition, it uses an enormous amount of power because the chips have to be cooled to near absolute zero for quantum annealing to work).
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Good to know, because those were my feelings exactly.
 
I find this very exciting and I hope they do well commercially. This will likely spur more research and more commercial startups in the realm of quantum computing. Many are expecting the end of Moore's Law when it comes to conventional computers in the next decade, so it's good to see other methods being actively pursued.

"At the current rate of progress of Moore's law, in 400 years, the entire universe will be one giant quantum computer. Just don't ask what the operating system will be."
http://www.slate.com/blogs/future_tense/2013/03/20/quantum_computing_and_the_future_of_moore_s_law.html
 
lord_emperor said:
Damn it I was hoping to be dead of old age before the robot revolution.
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Pfft. I never thought I would be alive to see the United States turn into a Socialist country, which I think it far more scarier than unmanned robots. :eek:
 
So Lockheed and Google have the 10 million dollar computer, what the fuck are they doing with it?
 
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