Google’s 100-qubit chip, Willow, has performed a computation in under five minutes that would take one of today’s fastest supercomputers an astonishing septillion years. But is this feat truly a demonstration of quantum supremacy, or is it just a clever trick?
The article discusses Google’s latest achievement in quantum computing, specifically their 100-qubit chip called Willow. The chip has performed a computation in under five minutes that would take one of today’s fastest supercomputers 1025 or 10 septillion years.
Google claims that this feat demonstrates “quantum supremacy,” or the point where quantum computers can do things that classical computers can’t, regardless of whether those tasks are useful. However, some experts have expressed skepticism about this claim.
Physicist Sabine Hossenfelder notes that the calculation performed by Willow is not particularly useful and was chosen because it has been formally proven to be difficult for conventional computers. She also argues that the actual number of qubits needed for practical applications is much higher than Google’s current chip, estimated to be around 1 million.
Additionally, some researchers have suggested alternative explanations for quantum computing, such as the Copenhagen interpretation, which proposes that quantum particles are in a state of all positions before measurement.
Despite these criticisms, Google is promising to continue scaling up Willow and exploring its potential applications. The article concludes that while Google’s breakthrough may be impressive from a scientific point of view, its significance remains debatable and its practical uses are still unclear.
