12/21/2023 0 Comments Microsoft big win quantum error all![]() Instead, the company is embarking on a plan to deliver a full-fledged topological quantum computing system. Part of Freedman’s challenge is that Microsoft isn’t just interested in building a quantum computer it can show off in a lab somewhere. At this point in the project, the only thing I care about is making the quantum computer work.” “I’ve been asked about the applications of quantum computing – you know, what motivates me? Do I want to cure disease, design new materials, protect the environment?” he said. “Even if everything else was the same, Cortana would improve 30 times faster,” said Mundie, who has continued to be deeply involved in the project.įor Freedman, to see a lifetime’s work in theoretical mathematics morph into an actual computing platform that could tackle previously unsolvable problems is “very intense.” After spending most of his career exploring theoretical math with no strings attached, it’s perhaps ironic that knots – or, more specifically, topology knot theory – is part of what led him to what he affectionately calls the first real job of his life, building a topological qubit.įreedman says he spends little time thinking about the potentially life-altering effects of his work. Craig MundieĬraig Mundie, who as Microsoft’s chief research and strategy officer first backed Freedman’s push into quantum computing a dozen years ago, noted that if a quantum computer could hypothetically process a training algorithm for the Cortana digital assistant in a day rather than a month, that would mark a profound improvement in AI advances. In one of its earliest uses, experts believe a topological quantum computer will help artificial intelligence researchers speed up the labor-intensive process of training algorithms using machine learning. “With classical computers we’re not able to really understand those processes.” “A quantum computer is able to model nature,” said Krysta Svore, who has led development of Microsoft software designed to work on quantum computers, as well as the quantum simulators that allow development to proceed even while the first machines are being built. Researchers say quantum computing could eventually be used to solve some of the world’s toughest problems, from world hunger to the dangerous effects of climate change. That, in turn, would mean that people could find answers to scientific questions previously thought unanswerable. That’s because it would allow scientists to do computations in minutes or hours that would take the lifetime of the universe on even the most advanced classical computers we use today. Even today, experts use terms like “magic state” to describe some elements of quantum computing theory and practice.Īlthough it evokes mystical comparisons, experts believe quantum computing will have innumerable practical benefits. Microsoft’s plan to build a quantum computing ecosystem is based on Freedman’s field of math and a branch of physics so seemingly mystical its early pioneers invoked philosophy and spirituality to describe it, and its later disciples attracted funding and support from self-help gurus in the 1970s. Michael Freedman. Photo by Brian Smale for Microsoft. That progress includes a new programming language, which is deeply integrated with Visual Studio and designed to work on both a quantum simulator and a quantum computer. On Monday at Microsoft’s Ignite conference, the company showcased the progress it has made toward developing both a topological qubit and the ecosystem of hardware and software that will eventually allow a wide range of developers to take advantage of quantum computing’s power. “We’re seeing the potential foundation for a new, revolutionary technology,” said Todd Holmdahl, the Microsoft corporate vice president in charge of the quantum effort. That broad charter has ended up putting Microsoft on the path to building the first topological qubit, a robust type of quantum bit that Microsoft believes will serve as the basis for a scalable, general purpose quantum computer system – and mark a profound breakthrough in the field of quantum physics. His job - which he didn’t think of as a real job at all - was simply to keep doing math, no strings attached. When Michael Freedman joined Microsoft’s theoretical research group two decades ago, he was a renowned math genius known for his fundamental research into an obscure field of math called topology.
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