⚛️ Quantum Computing Governance
Emerging AI Governance Challenges | Paid Subscriber Edition | #173
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⚛️ Quantum Computing Governance
This week, Microsoft announced Majorana 1, a quantum chip powered by a new “topological core architecture.” According to Microsoft, this quantum breakthrough will help solve industrial-scale problems in just a few years rather than decades.
From a more technical perspective, the topoconductor (or topological superconductor) is a special category of material that creates a new state of matter: it’s neither solid, liquid, nor gas, but a “topological state.”
(*I highly recommend watching this 12-minute video released by Microsoft to learn more about the science behind it. If you have science-loving kids at home, make sure to watch it with them!)
For those interested in diving deeper into the technical details of Microsoft’s latest announcement, the researchers involved have also published a paper in Nature and a “roadmap to fault-tolerant quantum computation using topological qubit arrays,” which can be found here.
It's not just Microsoft investing heavily in quantum computing (and quantum marketing). Last year, Google announced Willow, its quantum chip. According to the company, this state-of-the-art chip reduced errors exponentially and performed a standard benchmark computation in under five minutes—an achievement that would take one of today’s fastest supercomputers 10²⁵ years (longer than the age of the universe) to match.
1️⃣ Why Do Companies Want Quantum Computers?
Before we continue, let's revisit how quantum computers differ from classical ones, and why companies like Microsoft and Google are investing so much money, time, and resources into this endeavor.
Unlike classical computers, which use bits (0s and 1s) for processing, quantum computers use qubits. These qubits can exist in multiple states simultaneously due to quantum phenomena like superposition and entanglement. This allows quantum computers to process vast amounts of data at speeds unimaginable for traditional computers.
Companies are investing in quantum technology because it has the potential to revolutionize industries by solving problems that are currently unsolvable with classical computers—or by solving them much faster and more efficiently. Here are some examples of potential quantum applications:
Drug Discovery: Quantum computing could help simulate molecular structures faster and with greater precision, potentially accelerating the development of new pharmaceuticals and personalized medicine.
Cybersecurity: Quantum computing has the potential to break traditional encryption methods in hours—or even minutes—and will likely transform the foundational paradigms of cybersecurity.
AI: Although most experts believe we're likely years away from fully realized quantum AI, in theory, quantum AI or quantum machine learning algorithms could process large datasets more efficiently, enhancing AI models and enabling more sophisticated AI applications.
Financial Services: Quantum algorithms could simultaneously analyze numerous combinations of assets to identify optimal investment strategies or conduct advanced risk modeling, enabling quicker responses to market changes.
Chemistry: Quantum models might be integrated into existing analyses (that currently rely on classical computers) to help achieve better accuracy when predicting new properties or designing new materials, for example.
2️⃣ The Quantum Race
The first companies that manage to “crack the quantum code” and develop quantum-powered applications on a global, large-scale level will gain an enormous competitive advantage. Naturally, a quantum race is happening—though in recent months, we've primarily heard of the AI race and the geopolitics behind it.
In addition to Microsoft (which just launched the Majorana 1 chip, as mentioned above) and Google (which announced its Willow chip in December last year), other strong players in the quantum race include:
IBM: Last year, IBM unveiled Qiskit, the “world's most performant quantum software,” which the company announced, “can be used to allow developers to more easily build complex quantum circuits with stability, accuracy, and speed.”
Origin Quantum Computing: Last year, the Chinese company Origin Quantum Computing launched Origin Wukong, a third-generation 72-qubit superconducting quantum computer. The company also recently announced surpassing 20 million remote visits globally.
Other notable companies include Honeywell, Amazon, and Intel.
3️⃣ Quantum Computing Governance Efforts
So far, most national and regional governance efforts in quantum computing have focused on incentivizing research and infrastructure development.
The U.S., for example, enacted the National Quantum Initiative Act with the goal of accelerating quantum research and development for the benefit of the U.S. economy and national security. You can read more about the program and its latest developments here.
In 2018, the European Union launched the Quantum Technologies Flagship, a long-term research and innovation initiative aimed at transforming EU research into commercial applications across four core areas: quantum computing, quantum simulation, quantum communication, and quantum sensing and metrology.
Earlier this month, the Quantum Safe Financial Forum, established by Europol, issued a call to action for financial institutions and policymakers, urging them to prioritize the transition to quantum-safe cryptography. According to their statement, “quantum computers capable of posing such threats are expected to be available within the next 10 to 15 years, though this timeline could accelerate (…).”
4️⃣ Understanding Quantum Computing Governance
From a governance perspective, it's crucial to understand:
What types of new or incremental risks are created by the development and deployment of quantum-powered technologies, especially when integrated into AI models and applications; and
Whether the existing legal framework is sufficient to tackle these emerging challenges or if a novel and complementary approach is needed.
In this context, in 2022, the World Economic Forum published the report “Quantum Computing Governance Principles,” listing the core values, main themes, and principles that should guide quantum stakeholders both horizontally (across sectors and industries) and vertically (including lawmakers, policymakers, investors, engineers, researchers, and users).
In the report’s introduction (page 6), the authors highlight three technological assumptions about quantum computing that are useful for considering the potential legal implications and how quantum computing governance should be approached:
“It will be possible to build a fully programmable universal fault-tolerant quantum computer.
Quantum computing will make computation of certain specific problems more efficient and/or precise (e.g. optimization problems etc.).
Quantum computing will accelerate computation towards solving problems currently deemed intractable with classical machines (e.g., breaking of currently deployed public-key encryption schemes, etc.).”
Considering these technological assumptions and the potential applications of quantum technology discussed above, from my perspective, the following fields may require a new legal approach or amendments to existing legal and policy frameworks: