Google has opened the door to a new era of technology with its new quantum chip “Willow”. The company says this chip can solve a problem that takes the world's fastest supercomputers 10 septillion years to solve in just 5 minutes.
Hartmut Neven, head of the Google Quantum Laboratory, explains that the chip can revolutionize many areas, from nuclear fusion to drug development. But there are big question marks about how this type of technology, remaining in the hands of only a handful of companies and states, will impact the balance in the world.
What does quantum technology mean?
To understand the significance of this development, one must know how quantum computers work, says computer scientist Tolga Mürtezaoğlu and explains the difference between quantum and classical computers with the following words:
“Classical computers solve operations with 1s and 0s. Imagine a labyrinth. The classic computer tries all paths one after the other to find the exit. But quantum computers are different. “You can see the entire labyrinth at once and find the exit straight away.”
Mürtezaoğlu also states that this theoretical advantage contains many errors in practice. However, projects like Willow are making great strides in reducing error rates.
Great success with the error rate
Where Willow makes the difference is not just the speed but also the accuracy. Mürtezaoğlu said: “Google's previous chip, Sycamore, solved a problem that would have taken 10,000 years to solve in 200 seconds.” However, the error rate was quite high back then; Every tenth transaction was wrong. “In Willow, that rate dropped to 4 per 10,000,” he says.
This is a milestone in making quantum computers more reliable. However, according to Mürtezaoğlu, there are still insufficient infrastructures to fully utilize this technology:
“You may think you have a very fast car, but a suitable road for you to drive that car on has not yet been built.”
With the development of quantum computers, today's encryption methods have become crackable, which brings digital apocalypse scenarios onto the agenda. Mürtezaoğlu warns:
“Encryption methods that are considered secure today can be decrypted immediately thanks to quantum computers. But that's not the end. The US National Institute of Standards and Technology is working on new quantum-safe encryption techniques.”
Strong encryption methods supported by quantum infrastructure are expected to be developed in the future.
“There can be groundbreaking solutions”
The opportunities that quantum technology brings with it are also great. Mürtezaoğlu believes that this technology will revolutionize critical areas such as health, energy and the environment: “Many problems such as solving protein structures, more efficient management of renewable energy resources and perfect weather forecasts will no longer be a problem with quantum computers.”
There is also great potential in nuclear fusion technology. Mürtezaoğlu recalls the fusion experiments that managed to recover more energy than was provided in 2023: “Quantum computers can make these studies much more efficient and completely solve the energy problem.”
A new world order?
The implications of this technology, particularly in the military sector, give cause for thought. War machines, zero-defect robot armies, and factories run entirely by robots could create a new power imbalance.
Mürtezaoğlu notes that the combination of artificial intelligence and quantum technology could raise serious questions for humanity:
“Willow is not just a chip, it opens a door that we may not be aware of. “It’s hard to predict what awaits us behind that door.”
End of an era or a new beginning?
With Willow and similar chips, we are one step closer to the quantum revolution. However, whether this technology will be a hope or a threat to humanity depends on how it develops in the coming years.
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