Future of Tech: Artificial Intelligence & Quantum Computing

Initially conceptualised in the 1950s by Alan Turing, Artificial Intelligence (AI) was created for computers to mimic cognitive behaviour or reasoning similar to that of humans. Claude Shannon, Christopher Strachey, and Arthur Samuel gave it a further boost, but John McCarthy accelerated it and AI has come a long way since then. 

Businesses have focused on imbibing key cognitive tasks like problem-solving, decision-making, human communication, and perception through AI models. Advancements in computing power & storage as well as access to large data have rapidly enabled AI’s use in self-driving cars, chatbots, healthcare, fintech, and other sectors globally with a potential to grow further in 2022 and beyond.

Neural networks, machine learning, and now deep learning have made AI more relevant in today’s time but sensory perception and natural language understanding still remain key challenges to wide-scale adoption. This paves way for what is now an emerging trend coined as Artificial General Intelligence (AGI) also known as Strong AI which can potentially address these critical cognitive patterns. It could take five to eight years or maybe even more before momentum accelerates but whenever it does, it’s not worth it for entrepreneurs, investors, businesses, and tech geeks to miss out on it. Venture capital firms and venture funds are heavily invested and nearly $35 Billion is further expected to pour in by 2025 in the AGI space.

Deep Mind, acquired by Google in 2014, generated more than $1 Billion in revenues in 2020 and is leading the AGI race. OpenAI, a nonprofit funded initially by Elon Musk and later by Microsoft is doing incredible research by taking on the toughest AGI challenges. Vicarius (backed by Jeff Bezos, Mark Zuckerberg, Samsung, and others), Neuralink (invested by Elon Musk), Google Brain, and Facebook AI Research are deeply committed as well with significant time and investments in this space. Healthcare and life sciences can turn out to be the likely winners though nearly every sector stands to benefit from this disruptive AGI technology which is a key focus for investors and corporates as they look into the future. 

Research scientists believe quantum computers (QCs) could play an integral role in addressing the limitations of Artificial Intelligence while augmenting its commercialisation speed. For example, Quantum AI can accelerate the launch of self-driving vehicles which has attracted tremendous investments from automobile companies as well as startups. Using AI, teaching cars to take turns, adapt speed and other complex metrics takes several months to simulate and perfect. Quantum computers can teach a car in a few weeks if not days due to their ability to perform complex calculations simultaneously. 

Quantum computing (QC) is also often touted to be a problem solver for complex challenges that current computing power is unable to address. QC’s aim is to immensely benefit industries that rely on quantum chemistry to determine its molecular properties (physical & chemical), structure, and behaviour. Think of pharma companies that are looking to analyze the structure of enzymes to create a cure for various diseases that we still don’t have a solution for or drug discovery research where nearly 90% of the drug development efforts fail after years of efforts. Quantum computing can revolutionise pharma, biotech, material sciences, chemical, petroleum & green hydrogen companies and improve their odds drastically without waiting on it for years to determine its outcome!

You might wonder how are quantum computers different than classical computers that we currently use? Conventional computers are built on classical bits that can be in only one of the binary states- 0 or 1. Quantum computers use quantum physics in which each qubit can simultaneously exist in 0 and 1. This enables them to perform multiple calculations in parallel than traditional computers which are limited to one calculation at a time. 

What’s the progress in quantum computing in 2022? In 2019, Google’s 53 qubit quantum computer (Sycamore) took only 200 seconds to perform a particular task that would otherwise take a regular computer about 10,000 years. In November 2021, IBM launched the world’s fastest 127 qubit quantum computer (Eagle 127) which is twice as fast as their counterparts from Google and Chinese research labs as of this writing. IBM aims to build a 433-qubit Osprey processor, due in 2022, and the 1,121-qubit Condor slated for 2023 and eventually plans for a 1 million Qubit Quantum Computer by 2030.

PsiQuantum is one of the well-known Quantum Computing startups having attracted a $450 million investment from Microsoft. Google, Microsoft, IBM, and Amazon are already building quantum computing hardware and also offering quantum computing services on their cloud platform. Other interesting players include Cambridge quantum computing, D Wave, and IonQ who are focusing on providing solutions using software or targeted applications in life sciences and chemistry.

How soon can quantum computers start unleashing their potential in real-world applications? As per IBM, at 400 qubits and higher, some sectors could be ripe for initial benefits from quantum computing power. At 1000 qubits and higher, chemical & fertiliser industries could be amongst the first ones to benefit at a large scale in solving complex molecular, process, and simulation challenges which otherwise would take hundreds of years to materialise. Between 1000-10,000 qubit energy, automobile, engineering, and tech sectors could leverage QC power for solving advanced complexities by 2027. Pharma & life sciences sector in most likelihood needs few hundred thousand to millions of qubits which imply 2030 or beyond once those QCs become available.

Quantum Computing and Artificial General Intelligence, in all fairness, are a few years away from getting mainstream attention and it isn’t going to be easy in succeeding at this. Heavy investments coupled with finding a solution for many real-world problems, be it in financial services, autonomous self-driving cars, climate tech, machine learning, aerospace, renewable hydrogen, cancer research, human genome, protein folding, drug discovery or chemical process optimisation, I think leaders and entrepreneurs that plan for a better tomorrow for their organisation, might proactively want to consider having a plan in place for quantum enabled future.

Whenever it happens, companies already having a quantum strategy or investments in place could witness significant returns on investment and march ahead of the competition for years to come.