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At its recent Think 2023 conference, IBM focused on two areas AI and quantum computing that it believes will be essential to its enterprise customers. Lets look at the details.

Why should organizations consider AI or quantum computing? The technologies are not mutually exclusive but deserve separate answers.

In the former case, AI offers companies new tools for analyzing and leveraging existing data resources with the aim of improving processes from IT management to supply chain operations. Consider that a company could use AI models to generate code for developers or to automate complex data center tasks. These and solutions based on other AI modalities are currently available to businesses.

While it is still in relatively early days, quantum computing is maturing quickly and, in fact, is an issue that many government agencies and businesses will need to understand and deploy relatively soon.

For example, last year the U.S. government released new requirements and guidelines for federal agencies to start transitioning to solutions to protect valuable and critically important data against quantum computing-based attacks. In part, that is due to the increasing prevalence of harvest now, decrypt later attacks aimed at enduringly valuable government information, like classified and strategic documents.

To achieve that, the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) selected four quantum-resistant algorithms for standardization three of which were developed by IBM, alongside academic and industry collaborators.

In addition, the National Security Agency (NSA) announced that national security systems will be required to fully transition to quantum-safe algorithms by 2035. They further define that software and firmware signing should begin transitioning immediately.

Finally, the White House ordered federal agencies to submit inventories of systems that could be vulnerable to cryptographically relevant quantum computers.

Also see:Generative AI Companies: Top 12 Leaders

AI-enabled business has arrived, and the need for quantum computing is approaching quickly. IBMs central message at Think 2023 was that it is delivering artificial intelligence business solutions today and is rapidly developing robust quantum safe technology and services for near term deployment.

According to IBM chairman and CEO Arvind Krishna, the new WatsonX AI and data platform was, Built for the needs of enterprises, so that clients can be more than just users, they can become AI advantaged. Foundation models make deploying AI significantly more scalable, affordable and efficient. With IBM WatsonX, clients can quickly train and deploy custom AI capabilities across their entire business, all while retaining full control of their data.

What are foundation models? According to the company, they are built with large sets of IBM-curated enterprise data backed by a robust filtering and cleansing process and auditable data lineages. IBM is training the models on language, as well as other modalities, including code, time-series data, tabular data, geospatial data and IT events data.

Using WatsonX foundation models alone or in concert with their own proprietary data sets will enable IBM customers to speed and scale AI training processes while reducing potential problems caused by inaccurate or noisy data.

As a result, AI-enabled business processes should be more stable and successful out of the block. Plus, IBM believes that the adaptable AI models combined with enterprises data and domain expertise will enable customers to derive competitive differentiation and unique business value.

On a related topic:The AI Market: An Overview

As detailed at Think 2023, the WatsonX platform consists of three product sets:

Watsonx.ai and watsonx.data are expected to be generally available in July 2023. Watsonx.governance is expected to be generally available later this year. In addition, IBM plans to infuse WatsonX foundation models throughout its advanced software portfolio.

Finally, the company also announced other upcoming offerings designed to help drive AI adoption. Those include:

Also see:Top Generative AI Apps and Tools

IBMs new Quantum Safe technology is an end-to-end solution designed to help clients remain secure now and throughout their quantum-safe journey towards the post-quantum era. Sounds good, but what exactly does this mean?

While some quantum computing and quantum-like solutions are available, the market is still in very early days. However, potential dangers lie ahead as quantum technologies mature and become increasingly available to valid business and government agencies, as well as to bad actors, including rogue states and organized cybercriminals.

The question, then, is how organizations can best protect themselves against quantum-based cyberattacks during this transition. These attacks include harvest now, decrypt later schemes designed to steal highly encrypted data in the hopes that quantum-based tools can eventually be used to decode it.

In essence, IBM Quantum Safe is designed to thwart such efforts with various tools, including:

IBM also announced its Quantum Safe Roadmap, which is designed to help clients understand new threats and solutions and support them through this security transition.

Also see:What is Artificial Intelligence?

So, what are we to make of IBMs new WatsonX solutions and Quantum Safe offerings? In the former case, WatsonX is hardly IBMs first foray into AI. In fact, the company has been at the forefront of AI R&D since the 1950s with Arthur Samuels checkers-playing computer. IBM efforts continued through the Deep Blue system that beat chess grand master Gerry Kasparov in 1997 and the Watson system that triumphed over two Jeopardy grand champions in 2011.

While IBMs commercial Watson efforts havent all succeeded as the company hoped, the platform remains one of the worlds most advanced generative AI solutions. Moreover, IBMs focus on using Watson for simplifying operations and amplifying business benefits continues to find willing customers. In the weeks leading up to Think 2023, SAP announced that it will embed IBM Watson AI in SAP Start, the digital assistant that runs across all SAP instances.

With those points in mind, IBMs plans and goals for WatsonX appear eminently sensible and achievable, and the companys approach is spot-on. Leveraging its own substantial resources curated foundation models, machine learning expertise, hybrid cloud assets and data management and governance tools should make the WatsonX platform powerfully attractive to IBM clients.

Similar to its experience in AI, IBM was an early adopter and promoter of quantum computing and is actively working to bring quantum solutions to market. It also clearly recognizes the potential dangers that government agencies and enterprises face during the quantum computing transition. Along with its work on three of the four quantum-resistant algorithms adopted for standardization by the NIST, IBM also embedded quantum safe features in the z16 mainframesand LinuxONE 4 systems it launched last year.

In other words, just as it has done with WatsonX, the company is using its quantum computing investments and expertise to deliver Quantum Safe solutions to keep government and enterprise clients secure now and against future threats.

For moreinformation, also see:What is Data Governance

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IBM Think 2023: AI and Quantum Computing | eWEEK - eWeek

Energy companies have had a lot to worry about this past year. The economic disruption caused by Russias ongoing war in Ukraine has amplified calls for an accelerated energy transition in Europe a shift that could offer the combined benefits of alleviating the continents dependence on Russia and cutting down on its use of highly-polluting fossil fuels.

In order to keep global warming under 1.5C the stated goal of the 2015 Paris Climate Accords carbon emissions will need to reach net-zero by 2050, according to the UN. Added to this challenge? Global power consumption is expected to triple by 2050 as living standards grow worldwide, according to a 2022 report by McKinsey.

In their efforts to achieve these complex and apparently conflicting objectives, energy companies such as E.ON SE, Eni, and EDF are turning to quantum computing. Theyre hoping to harness the technologys immense potential processing power to deliver more energy more efficiently, thus maintaining a stable and sustainable supply of electricity for the years to come.

One way to help get to net zero is by decentralising energy supply networks, a trend thats happening across Europe. Every day, companies are adding more small-scale generative units, such as wind turbines and household solar panels, into their power grids. Theyre also connecting a host of EV charging points, which feed batteries that can store power until its needed.

These decentralised grids tend to be more efficient than traditional networks since the sources are often closer to the users, meaning less energy is lost during transmission. Theyre also better at linking small-scale renewable sources, rather than depending exclusively on large-scale plants, and offer greater control over the entire network, helping companies cope with fluctuating demand.

The perks are numerous. Managing decentralised grids, however, is incredibly complex since companies have to make real-time decisions that factor in a huge range of variables. This leaves the energy industry facing very difficult mathematical problems, explains Heike Riel, a researcher at IBM. Such problems might, indeed, turn out to be too tough for classical supercomputers to handle meaning energy suppliers are being forced to rely on approximations that, given their margins of error, dont offer maximum efficiency.

But its not just supply that needs to be optimised on decentralised grids. The tools we use to produce and transmit our energy all need to be maintained over their lifecycle for regular wear-and-tear, as well as any damage caused by freak weather or felled trees. This, too, requires complicated scheduling optimisation both for the maintenance work itself and the teams of workers that perform it. Youre balancing having lots of extra spare parts, which is basically reducing your efficiency, versus running out, which is going to bring problems in terms of operating capacity, explains Murray Thom, vice-president at quantum computing company D-Wave Systems.

Theres also the question of setting up new generators. When planning fresh developments, companies need to consider everything from local weather conditions to demand, grid constraints, supply chain challenges, transportation costs, and employee availability. Renewables, like wind turbines, are particularly vulnerable to the vagaries of their environment, so such calculations will only grow more prescient and more complicated as companies shift to sustainable resources.

Indeed, researchers from Microsoft announced, all the way back in 2018, that they had developed a new quantum-inspired algorithm for so-called unit commitment identifying the best power-producing resources to activate based on forecasted demand, efficiencies, and capacity limitations. This tool already outpaced more powerful classical systems in a demonstration and will likely show a far bigger advantage when scaled-up quantum computers become commercially available.

These arent new dilemmas. Such problem-solving has previously been handled albeit more slowly and less precisely by large, expensive data centres that burn through lots of energy. But quantum could, researchers believe, be faster, more accurate, and more cost-effective.

It could also be a research accelerator, explains Riel. Scientists have, for example, long struggled to improve batteries capacity to store energy. This is tough to investigate experimentally, explains Riel, because there are so many complex chemical reactions involved. But if we can precisely predict those reactions using the processing powers of a quantum computer, we might be able to boost batteries capacities and save precious energy.

Multiple energy companies have begun investing in quantum research lured by the pressures of sustainable development and the potential to win big economic gains.

German energy giant E.ON is trying to use IBMs quantum capabilities to optimise the output of its decentralised power infrastructure. The partnership, announced in 2021, gives E.ON access to IBMs quantum computing systems, via the IBM Cloud, as well as IBMs expertise and Qiskit quantum software developer tools. For E.ON, the innovative use of quantum computing offers an opportunity to solve complex and cross-system optimisation tasks in the energy transition in an innovative way, said Victoria Ossadnik, who was E.ONs chief digital officer at the time.

French energy supplier EDF, meanwhile, partnered with startup Quandela to study the use of photonic quantum computing in simulations of deformations in hydroelectric dams. This research aims to boost the speed and accuracy of these simulations and thus enable better design and maintenance of these flexible energy sources.

In November 2022, Italian energy company Eni teamed up with Paris-based quantum computing startup Pasqual in its mission to use quantum technologies to solve some of the most advanced computing problems, currently not approachable even by supercomputers, a spokesperson told Tech Monitor. Theyre investigating both quantum optimisation and quantum machine learning aiming to use these tools for everything from simulating reservoirs to studying magnetic fusion.

This kind of development, as evidenced by these partnerships, thrives on collaboration. The value of industry partners and larger businesses driving the quantum industry forward together should not be underestimated, says Daniel Goldsmith, senior quantum technologist at UK innovation agency Digital Catapult. For startups in the quantum space to succeed and effectively launch their solutions, industry partners must be involved in a collaborative process that enables the development of new technologies to solve broader industrial challenges.

So whats stopping everyone from getting onboard? It might still be too soon for many companies to see and believe the huge rewards that quantum researchers are promising. Right now, we are in what analysts call the Noisy Intermediate Scale Quantum (NISQ) era of quantum computing, says Goldsmith. This is where devices are small, qubits are prone to error, and proof of concepts dont yet have the success to achieve wide-scale business adoption.

Some people also just dont know what quantums all about, explains Thom. There isnt enough awareness because the technology is emerging really, really quickly, he says. A lot of folks that Im talking to are kind of like, what is a quantum computer?. Energy companies in particular might be more conservative in their technological experimentation, says Thom, because of the mission-critical nature of their work.

Capacity might not be ready yet, says Riel, but its not too soon to start looking into problems that could be solved by quantum computers. Otherwise, she warns, companies risk being left in the dust by their tech-savvy competitors. Quantum, with all its radical promises, isnt going away any time soon. We are on a steep trajectory, says Riel. Its time to get your feet wet.

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Can quantum computing make the grid sustainable? - Tech Monitor

While advancements in the field of Artificial Intelligence have been grabbing headline after headline, the world of quantum computing has quietly (and not so quietly in some cases) been going about the business of making the stuff once thought to be science fiction that of science fact.

The sphere hasnt seen much in the way of private investments (much, not to say none at all), but governments are keen to see the potential through with China announcing plans to commit at least $15 billion to quantum computing, and perhaps a first, with $7.2 billion committed vs. $1.3 the European Union sees itself in a leadership position ahead of the US market.

And these advancements arent just about the pure science of the matter, but massive commercial potential as well with McKinsey recently pinpointing that quantum technology could account for nearly $1.3 trillion in value by 2035.

On May 24, 2023, at the Tech.eu Summit Ill be sitting down with three experts, Sabrina Maniscalco, co-founder and CEO at Algorithmiq, Dr. Jan Goetz, CEO and co-founder at IQM Quantum Computers, and Markus Pflitsch, co-founder and CEO at Terra Quantum to discuss what the future of quantum computing holds, particularly here in Europe, and how Europe can stay ahead of, if not beat other geopolitical players to the punch.

Granted, 20 minutes is nowhere close to enough time to cover a topic as historied, deep, and technical as quantum computing, Im hoping that these three panelists can provide enough information to determine what state our European qubits are in and remain stable long enough for us to measure them. Or not.

I've got my questions for these experts, what are yours? Hit me up on @sensorpunk and I'll do my best to work them into the show.

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Quantum computing onstage at the Tech.eu Summit: The Year of the ... - Tech.eu

Quantum computing aims to reimagine the future of advanced calculations. As with any technology that has the potential to make science fiction into reality, investors are looking for the most promising quantum computing stocks to buy. Historically, computing power has grown at a predictable rate largely constrained by Moores Law. This is the observation that as the number of transistors on a semiconductor chip tends to double every two years, the cost of computing drops by half. This has long governed the pace of innovation in the computing industry.

However, were hitting the physical limit regarding the size of fabrication technologies. To deliver further exponential gains, a new computing technique will be needed. Enter quantum computing. According to a fact sheet on the technology from Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT), Quantum computers harness the unique behavior of quantum physics and apply it to computing.

The downturn in tech stocks over the past 18 months has included a downturn in quantum computing stock fortunes as well. However, things may be turning around as sentiment picks back up. As such, its a great time to look at these quantum computing stock winners for May 2023.

Source: Amin Van / Shutterstock.com

IonQ(NYSE:IONQ) is the most well-known independent quantum computing outfit out there today. The firm has been in business for many years, assembling an unmatched collection of patents, Nobel prize-winning scientists and R&D platform.

IonQ came public via a special purpose acquisition company and ran into several of the problems common to unproven tech companies in recent years. That included a brutal short seller report which took major shots at IonQs technology.

However, it appears that IONQ stock has passed through the worst of the storm, with shares more than doubling off their worst levels. The company has a large cash balance, giving it over 6 years worth of runway to keep growing its business before needing to raise more capital.

IonQ has minimal revenues today, and even its proponents admit the company is likely years away from achieving a major breakthrough in revenues and profitability. But the company has some of the brightest minds in the field and has a reasonable shot at being one of the ultimate winners in the quantum computing race.

Source: Shutterstock

The issue with IonQ and other pureplay quantum computing stock picks for May is that they are a high-risk venture. The technology is at an early stage and its hard to forecast the total addressable market with any clarity at this point.

For investors wanting more balanced risk and reward, it could make sense to put money into established companies that are taking steps in quantum computing.Honeywell (NYSE:HON) is one such leading example.

Honeywell is a well-known industrial company, but it has been a pioneer in quantum computing as well. Indeed, it has been active in the space for more than a decade, seeing it as a nice add-on to its industrial software businesses. Honeywells quantum computing division merged with Cambridge Quantum to form Quantinuum which claims its the worlds largest integrated quantum computing company. It aims to address fields such as chemicals, finance, aerospace, defense and pharmaceuticals among others.

Source: Koshiro K / Shutterstock.com

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL, NASDAQ:GOOG) is another good choice for investors wanting diversified exposure to quantum computing. Admittedly, quantum computing is far from the only iron in the fire at Alphabet.

The company, best known for their search engine Google, has made futuristic investments in a wide variety of ground-breaking ideas. One of these is quantum computing, where in 2019 they announced that they had achieved quantum supremacy.

It will be a long road from achieving quantum calculations in a lab to real world applications. However, Alphabet is on the path to commercializing its efforts. This includes forming a standalone company for Alphabets quantum ventures, potentially setting the stage for another quantum computing stock opportunity in the future, generating more shareholder value for Alphabet stock owners.

On the date of publication, Ian Bezek did not have (either directly or indirectly) any positions in the securities mentioned in this article. The opinions expressed in this article are those of the writer, subject to the InvestorPlace.com Publishing Guidelines.

Ian Bezek has written more than 1,000 articles for InvestorPlace.com and Seeking Alpha. He also worked as a Junior Analyst for Kerrisdale Capital, a $300 million New York City-based hedge fund. You can reach him on Twitter at @irbezek.

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The 3 Most Promising Quantum Computing Stocks to Buy in May 2023 - InvestorPlace

A tenfold leap in a key aspect of quantum communications is just one of several recent breakthroughs by Chinese research teams that have major implications for the future of computing and communications.

Quantum communications systems pass information using quantum bits: particles that exist in two states until they are observed. If an enemy observes these qubitsthat is, intercepts a messagethey lose this quality of superposition. The information they carry is lost and, as a bonus, the interception is easily detected. (Imagine dipping a cup into a stream of water; any attempt leaves traces.) But the intended recipients can interpret the information because they are being sent something called quantum keys. The inability to send enough of these keys has been a bottleneck in the pursuit of practical quantum communications.

Now a team of Chinese scientists at the University of Science and Technology of China has reported a breakthrough: a tenfold increase in the rate of stable quantum-key distribution. Led by the decorated USTC researcher Pan Jianwei and MIT-trained Xu Feihu, the team managed to push 115.8 megabytes of encrypted data per second over a 10-kilometer fiber-optic channel, shattering by over ten times the previous record of around 10 Mb/s. This breakthrough enables systems to handle vastly more data, larger files, and more users.

Another challenge for quantum systems, though, is that any increase in distance or bandwidth begins to introduce a large quantity of errors and decoherence. This is a result of the delicate superposition of the qubits, which frequently introduces unacceptable error rates and computational bottlenecking. Although these errors can be corrected by using extra qubits, this takes more computing power. It can even introduce more errors; the correcting qubits themselves are also delicate.

However, another Chinese team, led by Yu Dapeng of the Shenzhen Institute of Quantum Science and Engineering as well as researchers from Tsinghua and Fuzhou Universities, are also making progress on this problem. In March, the team announced a new system for real-time error correction in quantum systems. Their approach corrects for the added error potential of the extra qubits, improves the stability of information storage, and requires fewer resources, allowing quantum systems to realize a net-positive for resource intensity.

Beyond quantum communications

These breakthroughs come as a result of a broader push by Beijing for supremacy in quantum technologies and the many national security applications they promise even beyond the holy grail of communications that would reveal any attempted hack. Quantum computers able to solve complex calculations in milliseconds that would take a conventional computers trillions of years to solve would effortlessly crack most current encryption, push forward machine learning and AI to new levels, enable complex simulations and predictions, and drastically scientific R&D in fields ranging from chemistry to synthetic biology.

The PLA's interest in such areas and the quantum work at the University of Science and Technology of China dates as far back as 2012, when the university signed a strategic cooperation agreement with the PLAs National University of Defense Technology regarding quantum computing research. The signing ceremony was attended by both the aforementioned Pan Jianwei, and Major General Yang Xuejun. The University also has a cooperation agreement with AVIC, Chinas state-owned mega-conglomerate that produces platforms for the PLA Air Force, as well agreements with Yale, Cambridge, and other international organizations.

According to estimates from Global Quantum Intelligence, the Chinese government has likely spent at least $25 billion in the field. Much goes to quantum laboratories, according to a 2022 report from the RAND Corporation: $1.06 billion in 2017 and an additional $2.95 billion through 2022. The Chinese government has also funded private businesses. Pan Jianwei, team-lead for the quantum communications breakthrough, founded the quantum technology company QuantumCtek in 2009. In 2020, the company received funding from the state-owned China Telecom to establish quantum-encrypted communication lines in 15 Chinese provinces.

These investments are now paying off. In addition to the above gains, China has also led massive breakthroughs in supercooled and light-based quantum processors.

Dont panic

Still, concerns of a Chinese quantum supremacy should be softened by the realities and difficulties of this new space. For example, the NSA has noted five technical hurdles to applying quantum cryptography on the U.S. national security system. First, while quantum cryptography does prevent eavesdropping, there is no way of authenticating the sender of the secure information. Second, quantum communications require specialized equipment that cannot be integrated into existing infrastructure and cannot be upgraded or patched. Third, the trusted nature of the encrypted information means insider threats will become much more valuable to malicious actors. Fourth, tolerance for error is extremely low with the delicate qubits and quantum communications equipment. Five, this sensitivity makes denial-of-service attacks on quantum communications systems are much more effective than on traditional communications networks.

Perhaps most importantly, the NSA poured some cold water on quantum code-breaking. Although quantum computers will be able to crack most encryption, it will not be able to break all. Quantum-resistant algorithms can survive attempts by quantum computers to solve their codes, and are much cheaper to deploy to current systems than a complete redesign of security communications infrastructure. Their deployment is currently spearheaded by the National Institute of Standards and Technology, which announced the first group of winners of its quantum-resistant cryptographic competition last year.

Thus, although the new era of quantum computing, cryptography, and communications may bring some major changes, they are still a long way from being fully realized. Still, the spate of recent breakthroughs from Chinese scientists represent both major achievements and further signs that the road to the quantum age may well run through Beijing.

Thomas Corbett is a research analyst with BluePath Labs. His areas of focus include Chinese foreign relations, emerging technology, and Indo-Pacific security studies.

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Chinese Breakthroughs Bring Quantum Tools Closer to Practicality - Defense One