Today’s Brief Commentary:
I’m in catch-up mode after traveling to Riyadh last week for the LEAP / DeepFest 2025 event. I want to thank the organizers for a truly first-class experience from start to finish.
The links below include the YouTube video of my Quantum and AI DeepFest panel and an article I wrote for HPCWire with extended remarks on the same subject.
I believe Quantum for AI will eventually be useful, but we must stop the hype now. As the discussion moves outside the Quantum Bubble, false statements and misunderstandings are multiplied and twisted by people who don’t know any better. I’ll give them the benefit of the doubt for a bit longer, but I’ve reached my limit of hearing people say that quantum computers can handle petabytes of data and are great for AI. The experts among you should politely explain the facts and fix the misconceptions. Thank you ahead of time.
Other links include a nice profile of Sarah Sheldon of IBM Quantum and another US government proposal for quantum funding.
Don’t forget to check out and bookmark my new sortable list of upcoming quantum technology conferences.
Contents
- Conference and Event Talks
- Quantum and AI and Quantum
- Quantum Computing
- Quantum Computing | Technical
- Sovereign Initiatives
Conference and Event Talks
Quantum Leap: The Intersection of Quantum Computing and AI
https://www.youtube.com/live/QloxYG4wk10?si=qfNjbFD3MHbbMtvv
Author: LEAP / DeepFest 2025
Date: Tuesday, February 11, 2025
Excerpt: Panel discussion with moderator Areiel Wolanow, Kathrin Kind, Daniela Herrmann, and me at the LEAP / DeepFest 2025 event in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Our session starts at the 26:44 mark.
Quantum and AI and Quantum
Quantum and AI: A Marriage Made of Valid Expectations or Hype? | HPCWire
https://www.hpcwire.com/2025/02/10/quantum-and-ai-a-marriage-made-of-valid-expectations-or-hype/
Author: Bob Sutor
Date: Monday, February 10, 2025
Commentary: I highly recommend this article that I wrote. Perhaps I’m not being objective about it.
Excerpt: On Tuesday, February 11, I took part in a panel discussion on Quantum and AI at the LEAP/DeepFest conference in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. What follows is an expansion of my remarks. I don’t think there are two more Deep Tech topics discussed than quantum computing and AI.
Whether from research teams at major corporations, academics turned startup entrepreneurs, public and private investors, CEOs, educated commentators, well-versed industry analysts, stock boosters and day traders, or newly minted social media experts, these areas have captured the imagination of many people worldwide.
Quantum Computing
Sarah Sheldon: how a multidisciplinary mindset can turn quantum utility into quantum advantage
Author: Joe McEntee
Date: Wednesday, February 12, 2025
Commentary: Sarah is an amazing quantum scientist. Tiny bit of history: you may have heard me speak about the caffeine example to compare classical and quantum storage. I also cover it in my book Dancing with Qubits. Sarah and I came up with it moments before we gave an update to the IBM Board of Directors on the status of the IBM Quantum program.
Excerpt: In the vanguard of IBM’s quantum R&D effort is Sarah Sheldon, a principal research scientist and senior manager of quantum theory and capabilities at the IBM Thomas J Watson Research Center in Yorktown Heights, New York. After a double-major undergraduate degree in physics and nuclear science and engineering at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Sheldon received her PhD from MIT in 2013 – though she did much of her graduate research in nuclear science and engineering as a visiting scholar at the Institute for Quantum Computing (IQC) at the University of Waterloo, Canada.
Google CEO: Practical quantum computers likely still a decade away | DCD
Author: Charlotte Trueman
Date: Saturday, February 15, 2025
Commentary: My guess is: definitely more than one year and less than one hundred. (That’s a joke.)
Excerpt: Google CEO Sundar Pichai has compared the current development stage of practical quantum computers to where AI was a decade ago, adding that useful systems remain five to ten years away from reality.
Quantum Computing | Technical
Quantum learning advantage on a scalable photonic platform
https://arxiv.org/abs/2502.07770
Authors: Liu, Zheng-Hao; Brunel, Romain; Østergaard, Emil E. B.; Cordero, Oscar; Chen, Senrui; Wong, Yat; Nielsen, Jens A. H.; Bregnsbo, Axel B.; Zhou, Sisi; ; …; and Andersen, Ulrik L.
Date: Tuesday, February 11, 2025
Excerpt: Recent advancements in quantum technologies have opened new horizons for exploring the physical world in ways once deemed impossible. Central to these breakthroughs is the concept of quantum advantage, where quantum systems outperform their classical counterparts in solving specific tasks. While much attention has been devoted to computational speedups, quantum advantage in learning physical systems remains a largely untapped frontier. Here, we present a photonic implementation of a quantum-enhanced protocol for learning the probability distribution of a multimode bosonic displacement process. By harnessing the unique properties of continuous-variable quantum entanglement, we obtain a massive advantage in sample complexity with respect to conventional methods without entangled resources. With approximately 5 dB of two-mode squeezing – corresponding to imperfect Einstein–Podolsky–Rosen (EPR) entanglement – we learn a 100-mode bosonic displacement process using 11.8 orders of magnitude fewer samples than a conventional scheme. Our results demonstrate that even with non-ideal, noisy entanglement, a significant quantum advantage can be realized in continuous-variable quantum systems. This marks an important step towards practical quantum-enhanced learning protocols with implications for quantum metrology, certification, and machine learning.
Sovereign Initiatives
Durbin, Daines Introduce Bipartisan Legislation To Support The Future Of Quantum Research At Energy Department | U.S. Senator Dick Durbin of Illinois
Date: Thursday, February 13, 2025
Excerpt: U.S. Senate Democratic Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL) and U.S. Senator Steve Daines (R-MT) today introduced bipartisan legislation to expand the United States’ capacity to invest in quantum information science and research and development (R&D) through the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE). As quantum science, engineering, and technology advances, the DOE Quantum Leadership Act of 2025 would reinvigorate R&D projects at DOE by authorizing more than $2.5 billion in funding over the next five years—well above the $625 million for DOE-related programs laid out in the now-expired National Quantum Initiative Act of 2018. The DOE Quantum Leadership Act would also provide DOE the authority to expand its current quantum R&D initiatives.
Sutor Group Intelligence and Advisory
Dr. Bob Sutor is the CEO and Founder of Sutor Group Intelligence and Advisory. Sutor Group provides broad market insights and deep technical expertise based on over four decades of experience with startups and large corporations. It advises Deep Tech startups, companies, and investors on quantum technologies, AI, enterprise software, and other emerging tech fields.
Sutor Group shares its knowledge and analysis through direct client engagements and seminars, reports, newsletters, books, written and on-air media appearances, and speaking and panel moderation at the top conferences and client events.
Disclosures and Disclaimers
Bob Sutor is a former employee of IBM and Infleqtion and holds equity positions or stock options in each company. He is a Non-Executive Director for Nu Quantum and Advisor to the venture capital firm Forma Prime.
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