NPR
Google Claims To Achieve Quantum Supremacy — IBM Pushes Back
October 23, 20194:32 PM ET
Google says it has built a computer that is capable of solving problems that classical computers practically cannot. According to a report published in the scientific journal Nature, Google's processor, Sycamore, performed a truly random-number generation in 200 seconds. That same task would take about 10,000 years for a state-of-the-art supercomputer to execute.
The achievement marks a major breakthrough in the technology world's decadeslong quest to use quantum mechanics to solve computational problems. Google CEO Sundar Pichai wrote that the company started exploring the possibility of quantum computing in 2006.
In classical computers, bits can store information as either a 0 or a 1 in binary notation. Quantum computers use quantum bits, or qubits, which can be both 0 and 1. According to Google, the Sycamore processor uses 53 qubits, which allows for a drastic increase in speed compared with classical computers.
The report acknowledges that the processor's practical applications are limited. Google says Sycamore can generate truly random numbers without utilizing pseudo-random formulas that classical computers use.
We are excited to announce the results of our quantum supremacy experiment. Using a fully programmable, 54-qubit processor, called “Sycamore”, we have performed a calculation in 200 seconds that’s infeasible on the fastest supercomputers. Learn more ↓ goo.gle/2Bzp7TB
Pichai called the success of Sycamore the "hello world" moment of quantum computing.
"With this breakthrough we're now one step closer to applying quantum computing to—for example—design more efficient batteries, create fertilizer using less energy, and figure out what molecules might make effective medicines," Pichai wrote.
IBM has pushed back, saying Google hasn't achieved supremacy because "ideal simulation of the same task can be performed on a classical system in 2.5 days and with far greater fidelity."
On its blog, IBM further discusses its objections to the term "quantum supremacy." The authors write that the term is widely misinterpreted.
"First because, as we argue above, by its strictest definition the goal has not been met," IBM's blog says. "But more fundamentally, because quantum computers will never reign 'supreme' over classical computers, but will rather work in concert with them, since each have their unique strengths."
News of Google's breakthrough has raised concerns among some people, such as presidential hopeful Andrew Yang, who believe quantum computing will render password encryption useless. Theoretical computer science professor Scott Aaronson refuted these claims on his blog, writing that the technology needed to break cryptosystems does not exist yet.
The concept of quantum computers holding an advantage over classical computers has dated back to the early 1980s. In 2012, John Preskill, a professor of theoretical physics at Caltech, coined the term "quantum supremacy."
Paolo Zialcita is an intern on NPR's News Desk.
IBM打臉Google，說發表在Nature上的論文並沒有達到「量子霸權」。
我們做計算機效能比較、評估、優化的研究，首先告訴學生的就是公平性。很多人宣稱使用GPU或硬體加速某某演算法多少倍速度，但是比較的對象是在一個CPU核心上未經優化的程式，根本就不公平，甚至可說是作弊。
IBM在文中列舉在傳統電腦上可做的優化項目，說Google都沒做，才會覺得量子計算快得不得了。IBM說他們可以用傳統電腦在2.5天內做完計算，所以根本不算量子霸權。（採用較嚴謹的定義而言。）
我想，量子霸權出現在某些應用領域是遲早的問題，IBM這個打臉的動作並非捍衛傳統計算架構，而是不願見到Google如此宣稱而已。
smidgen, quantum computer, ‘quantum supremacy’
Its research paper is now available to read in its entirety
A quantum computer has carried out in a smidgen over three minutes a calculation that would take Summit, the world’s current-best classical supercomputer, 10,000 years to execute
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