Is quantum computing more dangerous than artificial intelligence?

Due to the power and revolutionary applications of this technology, quantum computing projects are likely to have become part of the defense research of many countries.

Today’s artificial intelligence is as self-aware as a paperclip. Despite the hype - such as a Google engineer's bizarre claim that his company's AI system has "come alive" and Tesla CEO Elon Musk's tweet predicting that computers will possess human intelligence by 2029 - But the technology still isn't capable of simple, everyday tasks. This includes driving a vehicle, especially when encountering unexpected situations that require even the tiniest bit of human intuition or thinking.

The sensationalism surrounding artificial intelligence is surprising considering that Musk himself has warned that if countries do not regulate it, artificial intelligence technology could become humanity’s “biggest existential threat.” Not surprising. But whether or not computers can achieve human-like intelligence, the world has summoned a different, equally destructive AI demon: precisely because today’s AI is nothing more than a crude, unintelligent system that uses algorithms and other technologies to process superhuman amounts of automated decision-making data, and its widespread use by relevant agencies and businesses to broadly obtain information, create deepfakes, and unleash autonomous lethal weapons has posed a danger to humanity.

And compounding the danger is the lack of any regulation of artificial intelligence. Instead, unaccountable technology conglomerates like Google and Meta have acted as judge and jury in all areas of artificial intelligence. They are silencing dissenting voices, including their own engineers who warn of dangers.

The world’s failure to contain the demons of artificial intelligence—or, rather, the crude technology masquerading as artificial intelligence—should serve as a profound warning. There's an even more powerful emerging technology that has the potential to wreak havoc, especially if it's combined with artificial intelligence: quantum computing. We urgently need to understand the potential impact of this technology, regulate it, and prevent it from falling into the wrong hands before it’s too late. The world must not repeat the mistake of refusing to regulate artificial intelligence.

Although still in its infancy, quantum computing operates on a very different basis than today’s semiconductor-based computers. If the various projects underway around the world are successful, these machines will be so powerful that they can complete tasks in seconds that would take traditional computers millions of years.

Semiconductors represent information as a series of ones and zeros – that’s why we call it digital technology. Quantum computers, on the other hand, use a computing unit called a qubit. By adding a counterintuitive property to quantum physics called superposition, a qubit can hold the values ​​of 1 and 0 simultaneously. If you think this is confusing, you're right—it's difficult even for experienced engineers to master. Therefore, two qubits can represent the sequence 1-0, 1-1, 0-1 and 0-0, all in parallel and at the same time. This results in a significant increase in computing power, which increases exponentially with each additional qubit.

If quantum physics leaves the experimental stage and enters everyday applications, it will find many uses and change many aspects of life. With their ability to quickly process large amounts of data that would overwhelm any system today, quantum computers have the potential to enable better weather forecasting, financial analysis, logistics planning, space research and drug discovery. And some actors may well use them for nefarious purposes, compromising bank records, private communications and passwords on every digital computer in the world. Today's cryptography encodes data in large combinations of numbers that are impossible to crack in a reasonable amount of time using classical numerical techniques. But quantum computers - which exploit quantum mechanical phenomena such as superposition, entanglement and uncertainty - may be able to try combinations so quickly that they can break encryption by brute force almost instantaneously.

To be clear, quantum computing is still in its infancy—although we can only guess where exactly. Due to the huge potential and revolutionary applications of this technology, quantum computing projects are likely to already become part of the defense research of various countries. Such research is often shrouded in secrecy, and there is much talk and speculation about reaching milestones. France, Russia, Germany, the Netherlands, the UK, Canada and India are all known to be pursuing projects, while in the US, companies including IBM, Google, Intel and Microsoft are working on quantum computing, along with various startups, defense contractors and universities. .

Despite the lack of publicity, some basic applications have been credible demonstrated, including quantum sensors capable of detecting and measuring electromagnetic signals. One such sensor is used to accurately measure Earth's magnetic field from the International Space Station.

In another experiment, Dutch researchers sent quantum information through a rudimentary quantum communications network. Rather than using conventional optical fibers, the scientists used three small quantum processors to instantly transmit qubits from the transmitter to the receiver. These experiments have yet to show practical applications, but they could lay the foundation for a future quantum internet in which quantum data can be transmitted securely through a network of quantum computers at faster than the speed of light. Until now, this has only been possible in the realm of science fiction.

The U.S. Biden administration considered the risk of losing the quantum computing race so imminent and dire that it issued two presidential directives in May: One to place the National Quantum Initiative advisory board directly at the White House Under the authority, another directs government agencies to ensure that the United States leads in quantum computing while reducing the potential security risks that quantum computing poses to cryptographic systems.

The experiment also aims to combine quantum computing with artificial intelligence to transcend the limitations of traditional computers. Today, large machine learning models take months to train on digital computers because of the massive calculations that must be performed—OpenAI’s GPT-3, for example, has 175 billion parameters. When these models grow to trillions of parameters—a necessity for today’s dumb AIs to become smart—they will take longer to train. Quantum computers can greatly speed up this process while using less energy and space. In March 2020, Google launched TensorFlow Quantum, the first quantum artificial intelligence hybrid platform, taking the search for patterns and anomalies in large amounts of data to a new level. Combined with quantum computing, artificial intelligence could theoretically lead to more revolutionary results than critics have been warning about artificial intelligence perception.

Given the potential scope and capabilities of quantum technology, the mistakes of artificial intelligence must not be repeated—regulatory failures that introduced algorithmic bias into the world, exacerbated human biases, social media support of conspiracy theories, and suspicion of AI institutions attack. Democracy fueled by AI-generated fake news and social media posts. The danger lies in the ability of machines to make autonomous decisions, with flaws in computer code leading to unexpected and often harmful results. In 2021, the quantum community issued a call to action to urgently address these issues. Additionally, critical public and private intellectual property related to quantum technologies must be protected from theft and misuse.

In addition, national defense issues are also involved. In the world of security technology, the Holy Grail is a so-called quantum computer relevant to cryptanalysis—a system capable of breaking much of the public-key cryptography used by digital systems around the world, such as blockchains. It's a very dangerous capability in the hands of a hostile power.

Therefore, in addition to accelerating research, targeted controls on developers, users and exports should be implemented without delay. Patents, trade secrets, and related intellectual property rights should be rigorously protected—a return to the kind of technological control that was a major element of security policy during the Cold War. The revolutionary potential of quantum computing takes risk to a new level.

Finally, in order to avoid serious ethical problems with artificial intelligence and machine learning, countries need to develop control measures that are consistent with the power of technology and respect democratic values, human rights and fundamental freedoms. Governments must urgently start thinking about regulations, standards and responsible use, and learn from the way countries have handled or mishandled other revolutionary technologies, including artificial intelligence, nanotechnology, biotechnology, semiconductors and nuclear fission. Therefore, we must not make the same mistakes we made with artificial intelligence again and prepare now for tomorrow’s quantum age.

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