Amidst the once-in-a-generation buzz around artificial intelligence, a new subject area has slowly but definitively gained steam in the last few years: quantum computing.
The concept has become especially popular over the last year, as the world’s largest technology companies have started releasing some of their progress and work in this arena. Moreover, research has also emerged in recent months about how it can effectively solve some of the world’s toughest data driven problems– meaning that it has the potential to significantly transform healthcare and life-sciences in a positive manner.
But what exactly is quantum computing?
Well, its not just one thing; rather, the field encompasses a wide range of other important disciplines and studies, including quantum physics, mechanics, hardware and algorithms. Essentially, the entire study relies heavily on the foundational principles of quantum physics and the mechanics of subatomic particles to ultimately reveal and harness the realities of nature for productive compute.
There are four key principles of quantum physics which drive the breakthroughs in computing ability:
- Superposition: the ability for multiple (perhaps contradictory) states to exist at the same time
- Entanglement: the ability for particles to develop closer relationships and stronger correlations than implied by general probability
- Decoherence: the propensity for particles/objects to decay and lose their quantum capabilities
- Interference: the ability for particles to interact in a way which either reinforce or denigrate each other
Applied to compute power and the ability to solve problems, quantum computing leverages these principles to perform tasks at a higher realm of efficiency and possibility. Classical compute uses bits (0 or 1 binary code) to read, store and process information; quantum computing instead uses “qubits” which can process similar information– however, within the realms of the 4 principles mentioned above. For example, qubits can harness superposition, meaning that they can represent either 0 or 1 simultaneously and can therefore query more possibilities at a given time; this ability to process significantly more information simultaneously, along with the capabilities unlocked by the other principles, is what ultimately makes quantum computing so much more powerful than classical computing.
Why is all of this important? Because this technology, though still in its infancy, enables potential breakthroughs across all domains of science and healthcare.
In the realm of AI, there are significant applications. For one, machine learning, which refers to the process and ability to analyze and generate insights from vast quantities of data, stands to gain tremendously with breakthroughs from quantum computing, given how it can enable previously impossible computational tasks.
For healthcare and life sciences, quantum computing can unlock new insights based on data that was previously too vast to be analyzed. Amazon Web Services describes how quantum chemistry has empowered new chemistry simulations and data configurations which can unlock entirely novel leaps into the worlds of drug discovery, material sciences and nanotechnology.
Other great applications exist in the clinical space as well. A paper published in the Journal of Informatics in Health and Biomedicine describes how this technology “can search large, unstructured datasets more efficiently than their classical counterparts, enabling more effective optimization of complex problems in healthcare and biomedical research.” Undoubtedly, unstructured data is a multi-hundred billion dollar problem in healthcare; with the transition of hospitals and healthcare data to EMRs and digital systems over the last two decades, few solutions exist to collate all of this information and provide meaningful insights. Though software stacks are emerging that can help process this information, the datasets will only continue to grow, and quantum computing can play a significant role in alleviating this issue.
With regard to other fields ranging from drug discovery and design to genomic sequencing, protein folding and other key biomedical research applications, quantum computing will unlock new ways to solve some of the most fundamental questions of life at a molecular and individual particulate level.
This is why large technology companies are in such a rush to pursue (perhaps silently) their work in this field. Just a few months ago, Google announced the launch of Willow, the company’s quantum chip that is capable of immense computational capabilities: “Willow performed a standard benchmark computation in under five minutes that would take one of today’s fastest supercomputers 10 septillion (that is, 1025) years — a number that vastly exceeds the age of the Universe.” Last month, Microsoft similarly announced its Majorana 1 chip, providing “a clear path to fit a million qubits on a single chip that can fit in the palm of one’s hand.”
Interestingly, these innovations also require significant work in developing entirely new hardware stacks and physical materials. That’s why hardware giants such as Nvidia, who are already leading in this space, have a huge leg up in developing quantum processing units (QPUs) and the future means to enable this work further.
Nevertheless, it must be noted that this field is not brand new, by any means; although news coverage and media buzz around this subject is just now gaining steam, these breakthroughs are actually the culmination of decades of science and research finally converging at a serendipitous moment in time.