[Software] IBM Says Quantum Error Correcting Software Coming in 2023 – ‘Quantum Comes of Age’

[rlex]

 

If quantum isn’t to be a technology “that’s always 10 years away,” then quantum error correction (QEC) – one of the high hurdles to quantum becoming a practical reality – must be tamed.  This week at a Wall Street Journal virtual CIO Network event, IBM’s SVP and Director of IBM Research Dario Gil said the company is developing QEC software on track for release in 2023.

“This is going to be the decade in which quantum really comes of age…,” Gil said in a Journal article published yesterday. “We’ve got to get these computers to operate without errors, and if we can do that we’ll realize their full potential. So what we envision is in 2023, when we deliver that system, it will be an inflection point in that the errors of quantum computers will continue to decrease exponentially through software, as opposed to just by making the device better.”

His statements reflect a broadening perspective, at least among the media and non-quantum specialists interested in the technology, for assessing quantum’s progress beyond a fixation on qubit counts, qubits being quantum bits, the basic unit of quantum information.
In a 2021 technology predictions article we published two months ago, Dr. Itamar Sivan, co-founder and CEO, Quantum Machines, discussed this development.

“Although it seems counterintuitive, the progress made in quantum hardware development over the next year may lead to more uncertainties within the quantum industry rather than less,” he said. “However, this is actually a good thing. Currently, it may seem like one or two types of qubit hardware are ahead of the others in the R&D process. Over the next year, however, we expect to see more researchers working with other hardware types to close the gap. Closing this gap will undoubtedly make it more unclear as to which qubit model (superconducting qubits, NV centers, trapped ions/atoms, mechanical resonators, etc.) will be the industry standard. Still, the continued development of all the hardware types is essential to ensure we end up with the best possible technology.”