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Homegrown review: Timothy McVeigh and the rise of the Trumpist threat – The Guardian

Books

Jeffrey Toobin has written a brilliant, chilling book on the Oklahoma City bombing and the rise of Republican extremism

Sun 14 May 2023 02.00 EDT

Jeffrey Toobin has combined two great books in one. The first is an edge-of-your-seat thriller, describing Timothy McVeighs every movement on his way to committing one of the most horrific crimes in American history. The second traces how a huge part of the Republican establishment has come to embrace many of McVeighs most dangerous convictions.

Toobin is a lawyer who became a full-time writer and TV pundit 30 years ago. This is his ninth book and his most important, because it gives the clear and present danger of rightwing extremism the attention it deserves.

McVeigh was a brilliant marksman who fought in the first Iraq war but failed a tryout for the Green Berets after only two days. This, Toobin writes, was a shattering defeat he had no plan B.

McVeighs biggest ideological influence was a novel, The Turner Diaries, which envisaged a world in which the government had the power to confiscate private arms, Black people were allowed to attack whites with impunity and whites were punished for defending themselves. It also imagined the blowing up of the FBI building in Washington with a truck filled with thousands of pounds of fertilizer, blasting gelatin and sticks of dynamite.

That became McVeighs template for blowing up the Alfred P Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City, on 19 April 1995, with a rental truck. The death toll was 168, including 19 children. More than 500 were injured.

Toobin covered McVeighs trial for the New Yorker and ABC News. His interest was rekindled when he realized the conspirators arrested in a plot to kidnap the current Michigan governor, Gretchen Whitmer, were much like McVeigh.

I know these people, he writes.

Then he discovered McVeighs lead lawyer had donated 635 boxes of documents to the University of Texas.

I knew that an archive of this extent had never before been publicly available in a major case.

In Homegrown, Toobin combines the fruits of those documents with interviews with more than 100 participants, among them Bill Clinton, president at the time, and Merrick Garland, now attorney general, then lead prosecutor of McVeigh. The result is one of the most detailed and exciting true crime stories I have ever read.

But in many ways the other book Toobin has written is even more important. It is the book that looks at the birth of the extreme language that now dominates Republican politics. McVeigh embraced white supremacy and violent action just as a Republican House speaker, Newt Gingrich, and a talk show host, Rush Limbaugh, were engaging in rhetorical violence at a pitch the country had rarely heard before on national broadcasts.

Gingrich instructed Republicans to describe Democrats as sick, pathetic, traitors, radical and corrupt, while describing himself as standing between us and Auschwitz. Limbaugh said the second violent American revolution was a quarter of an inch away. Toobin draws a straight line to the titles of books written by extremists today, from Deliver Us From Evil: Defeating Terrorism, Despotism and Liberalism (Sean Hannity) to Treason: Liberal Treachery from the Cold War to the War on Terrorism (Ann Coulter).

To Toobin, the mistake Garland made was the same one he himself made when he covered McVeighs trial: both focused on the acts of a loner, instead of connecting the atrocity to the beginnings of the mainstreaming of rightwing extremism.

One of the most interesting parts of the book lies in Clintons prescience. Because the Oklahoma bombing came barely two years after the first bombing of the World Trade Center by Islamic fundamentalists, the media and many others assumed foreigners were the culprits again. Clinton was certain that wasnt the case.

This was domestic, homegrown, the militias, he told his staff. I know these people. Ive been fighting them all my life.

Clintons earliest political memory was of the Arkansas governor Orval Faubus refusing to allow Black students into Little Rock Central high school. Clinton remembered those opposed to integration, the faces twisted with rage. He also believed hatred was especially virulent in the early 1990s, because of Gingrichs sneering contempt and Limbaughs roiling bombast.

McVeighs own linear connection to old hatreds was confirmed by his membership of the Ku Klux Klan.

McVeigh saw himself as the leader of an army of extremists but Toobin is convinced, by the evidence, there were only two significant co-conspirators. The disastrous change in our own time lies in the way the internet has enabled millions of such people to connect. One study for the Department of Homeland Security found social media was used in 90% of US extremist plots.

Toobin writes: More than any other reason the internet accounts for the difference between McVeighs lonely crusade and the thousands who stormed the Capitol on January 6.

The terrorism expert Juliette Kayyem said the internet gave white-supremacist terrorism what amounts to a dating app online. In Toobins words, when Donald Trump became president, the wolf pack had a new leader.

This is one of the most important markers of the decline of the Republican party. After Oklahoma City, no politicians defended the attack. But after January 6, many Republicans did just that. Andrew Clyde, a Georgia congressman, said the riot resembled a normal tourist visit. Since leaving the White House, Trump has turned to a new level of feral zealotry, embracing QAnon, the antisemitic conspiracy theory he reposts on his social media platform, and regularly expressing eagerness to pardon rioters as soon as he enters the White House again.

This week provided the most dramatic evidence yet of how completely the political-media establishment has been corrupted by organized hatred. CNN, a formerly respectable organization, decided the best thing it could do was to give a national forum to the hero of millions of white supremacists. That decision alone drove home the urgency of the message of Toobins brilliant book.

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Study combines quantum computing and generative AI for drug discovery – Phys.org

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Insilico Medicine, a clinical stage generative artificial intelligence (AI)-driven drug discovery company, today announced that it combined two rapidly developing technologies, quantum computing and generative AI, to explore lead candidate discovery in drug development and successfully demonstrated the potential advantages of quantum generative adversarial networks in generative chemistry.

The study, published in the Journal of Chemical Information and Modeling, was led by Insilico's Taiwan and UAE centers which focus on pioneering and constructing breakthrough methods and engines with rapidly developing technologiesincluding generative AI and quantum computingto accelerate drug discovery and development.

The research was supported by University of Toronto Acceleration Consortium director Aln Aspuru-Guzik, Ph.D., and scientists from the Hon Hai (Foxconn) Research Institute.

"This international collaboration was a very fun project," said Aln Aspuru-Guzik, director of the Acceleration Consortium and professor of computer science and chemistry at the University of Toronto. "It sets the stage for further developments in AI as it meets drug discovery. This is a global collaboration where Foxconn, Insilico, Zapata Computing, and University of Toronto are working together."

Generative Adversarial Networks (GANs) are one of the most successful generative models in drug discovery and design and have shown remarkable results for generating data that mimics a data distribution in different tasks. The classic GAN model consists of a generator and a discriminator. The generator takes random noises as input and tries to imitate the data distribution, and the discriminator tries to distinguish between the fake and real samples. A GAN is trained until the discriminator cannot distinguish the generated data from the real data.

In this paper, researchers explored the quantum advantage in small molecule drug discovery by substituting each part of MolGAN, an implicit GAN for small molecular graphs, with a variational quantum circuit (VQC), step by step, including as the noise generator, generator with the patch method, and quantum discriminator, comparing its performance with the classical counterpart.

The study not only demonstrated that the trained quantum GANs can generate training-set-like molecules by using the VQC as the noise generator, but that the quantum generator outperforms the classical GAN in the drug properties of generated compounds and the goal-directed benchmark.

In addition, the study showed that the quantum discriminator of GAN with only tens of learnable parameters can generate valid molecules and outperforms the classical counterpart with tens of thousands parameters in terms of generated molecule properties and KL-divergence score.

"Quantum computing is recognized as the next technology breakthrough which will make a great impact, and the pharmaceutical industry is believed to be among the first wave of industries benefiting from the advancement," said Jimmy Yen-Chu Lin, Ph.D., GM of Insilico Medicine Taiwan and corresponding author of the paper. "This paper demonstrates Insilico's first footprint in quantum computing with AI in molecular generation, underscoring our vision in the field."

Building on these findings, Insilico scientists plan to integrate the hybrid quantum GAN model into Chemistry42, the Company's proprietary small molecule generation engine, to further accelerate and improve its AI-driven drug discovery and development process.

Insilico was one of the first to use GANs in de novo molecular design, and published the first paper in this field in 2016. The Company has delivered 11 preclinical candidates by GAN-based generative AI models and its lead program has been validated in Phase I clinical trials.

"I am proud of the positive results our quantum computing team has achieved through their efforts and innovation," said Alex Zhavoronkov, Ph.D., founder and CEO of Insilico Medicine. "I believe this is the first small step in our journey. We are currently working on a breakthrough experiment with a real quantum computer for chemistry and look forward to sharing Insilico's best practices with industry and academia."

More information: Po-Yu Kao et al, Exploring the Advantages of Quantum Generative Adversarial Networks in Generative Chemistry, Journal of Chemical Information and Modeling (2023). DOI: 10.1021/acs.jcim.3c00562

The data acquisition code and source codes associated with this study are publicly available at: github.com/pykao/QuantumMolGAN-PyTorch

Journal information: Journal of Chemical Information and Modeling

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The race to protect us from a computer that can break any password – inews

Just as quantum computers are a complex subject, so too are the defences being created to counter them. But David Williams of Arqit says theres no need to feel intimidated.

You dont need to worry about how it works, he says. Most people cant explain how a silicon chip works, they just accept that the ones in their phones and computers work.

There are several potential solutions being proposed by rival scientists, cryptographers and tech entrepreneurs. One is quantum key distribution, commonly called QKD.

Tim Spiller is researching this technology at the University of York as a member of the UKs Quantum Communications Hub, a network that unites academics with telecoms industry partners such as BT and Toshiba.

QKD relies on quantum mechanics to detect if anyone is spying on a message youre sending. If someone intercepts it and has a cheeky look, you can find out that theyve done that, because they cant avoid disturbing the quantum signals, explains Spiller. That disturbance is built into nature, its not something that people can get around in the future They will never be able to overcome that.

If we know that it hasnt been intercepted, then a mechanism can set up shared keys for encryption with a promise that no one else knows that shared key.

But there are major downsides to QKD. It still relies on some form of cryptography, which could still be cracked. It can detect an eavesdropper but it cant stop them. Plus, it will require substantial new hardware to be installed everywhere, admits Spiller. Thats going to be a lot of work and cost a lot of money. He and his team are trying to create QKD networks that dont need new bits of machinery, but he admits this idea remains far from realisation.

Some industry sources worry that too much public money is being invested in this technology despite the NCSC saying it does not endorse QKD for any government or military applications.

Instead, officials on both sides of the Atlantic publicly back post-quantum cryptography. This relies on developing algorithms so advanced that even a quantum computer cant break them, to create genuinely impregnable internet security.

Can you come up with new maths that isnt vulnerable? That is a very important question, says Spiller. People are coming up with new algorithms There are good reasons for thinking these may well be immune to a quantum computer attack but you cant prove that people wont come up with something clever in future and break them.

In 2016, the US National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) announced a competition. It appealed for cryptographers around the world to develop new algorithms, in the hope that at least one of them would turn out to be quantum-proof while still resistant against old-fashioned hackers on conventional computers.

In all, 82 were submitted. By last year, just a handful were left. Even at this stage, however, some contenders turned out to be flawed. One entry, SIKE, was cracked in a single hour by a conventional computer. But a US-developed algorithm, Kyber, has now been approved for use by NIST.

Post-Quantum have been working on another finalist, Classic McEliece, together with the US computer scientist Professor Daniel Bernstein. The teams creation has already been endorsed by the German and Dutch authorities and they are highly confident it will also be selected by NIST after further assessment.

The algorithm has been proven to be the most secure in the world, claims Andersen Cheng. We did a lot of deep tech, when the whole world was laughing at us, but we persisted Were very proud. It is built on an algorithm that has existed since the 70s yet has never been cracked and has now been strengthened even more, he explains.

The British-based team have also created a quantum-safe virtual private network (VPN) which has been tested by Nato. It is now endorsed as an industry standard for other VPN developers to use.

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Quantum computing and the future of bank tech | ABA Banking Journal – ABA Banking Journal

By Ryan Jackson

While its not critical for most people to understand how quantum computing works, it is a concept of growing importance for industries that use encryption and algorithms, including banking.

One way to think about how to prioritize emerging technologies is with McKinseys Three Horizons model, which buckets technologies and business concepts into horizons based on their approach to manage for current performance while maximizing future opportunities for growth.

Within the Three Horizons model, Horizon 3 contains the seeds of tomorrows business options on future opportunities. Quantum computing, which is part of the broader field of emerging quantum technologies, resides with Horizon 3, though with current advancements it may soon find itself in Horizon 2 or 1.

According to Amazon Web Services, no quantum computer can [currently]perform a useful task faster, cheaper, or more efficiently than a classical computer. Quantum advantage is the threshold where we have built a quantum system that can perform operations that the best possible classical computer cannot simulate in any kind of reasonable time. That said, a number of the largest technology players (for example, Amazon, Microsoft, Google) are exploring and developing quantum computing services.

Not to be outdone by the large technology companies, many large financial services companies (including JPMorgan, Bank of America, Wells Fargo, BlackRock and Mastercard) have been exploring quantum computing over the past few years, and several have made direct investments into quantum computing startups. According to a recent World Economic Forum report, government and business investment in quantum technologies reached nearly $36 billion worldwide as of 2022.

Despite increasing investment in quantum technologies, one of the issues inhibiting quantum computing from advancing more quickly is the lack of quantum technology talent. Until the industry matures, and more opportunities emerge for less technical talent, startups and established companies will be vying for the same limited resources.

Data is the lifeblood of many industries, and financial services is no exception. Quantum computing is all about analyzing more data more quickly. And when we think about all the areas of banking that rely on turning data into insights, the potential for quantum computing to generate value becomes clear. Consider, for example, the following lifecycle of a bank customer and how data models are leveraged:

Using quantum computing has the potential to include more data points, run models more quickly and produce more accurate analytics. McKinsey estimates that finance is one of four of the main industries that has the potential to capture nearly $700 billion in value as early as 2035 leveraging quantum technologies.

While quantum computing may eventually offer significant benefits especially in predictive analytics and simulations, the risk it could introduce to financial institutions (and other industries) cant be overstated. By far, the biggest emerging threat is nefarious actors (for example, criminals, terrorists, and rogue governments) using quantum computers to break public key encryption, which is the backbone of secure data transmission. Banks are safekeepers of investments, public assets, pensions, retirement accounts, and personally identifiable information and rely on public key encryption to maintain the security and privacy of this type of information. Should quantum computing allow for encryption algorithms to be cracked, the impact could be significant. Even the threat of such bad actors leveraging quantum computing may undermine public confidence in commonly used encryption methods, creating problems for the institutions, including banks, responsible for safeguarding data.

The U.S. government has launched a multi-pronged strategy to address the risk, develop standards and ensure that government agencies are prepared. While the federal banking agencies have not issued any specific guidance yet, they can rely on existing regulations and supervisory guidance and the ongoing examination process.

Quantum computing is not yet at the stage where it surpasses classic computing, though the ecosystem is developing rapidly. Some estimate quantum computing will become mainstream in 10 to 15 years, but recently weve seen claims indicating the technology may be available much sooner than that. Despite quantum computing not being an imminent threat, there are several steps banks should take to monitor developments in the technology and increase awareness of the risks:

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The quantum computer already exists, but is not all that powerful – Tech Xplore

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Quantum computer. Credit: IBM

You may be one of those waiting for the quantum computer, the arrival of which we have been told is imminent for several years. Already at this point, DTU Associate Professor Sven Karlsson begins to look a little strained, because among his partners are the two European companies AQT and IQM which produce and sell quantum computers.

"It's a common misconception that the quantum computer doesn't exist yet. It does already exist, so it's not something we need to wait for. However, the current quantum computers aren't yet all that large, which obviously limits how complicated the calculations can be, but they exist and are being used," says Sven Karlsson.

One example is IBM's quantum computers, which anyone can access via the internet. In addition, there are quantum computers in scientific laboratories, in supercomputer centers, at universities, and so onworldwide. These are also among the customers to which AQT and IQM sell their products.

It has not yet been possible to build quantum computers with many quantum bits. Quantum bits are used to process the information in the computer, and a low number of quantum bits therefore limits the complexity of the calculations the quantum computer can perform. Sven Karlsson therefore characterizes the current use as primarily experimental, making it possible to play with and understand the technology.

"The technical level of the current quantum computers is somewhat similar to the first stage of our current computers. When they first appeared in the 1950s, there were only a limited number of them, and, back then, they couldn't make larger calculations than those any calculator can perform today."

However, there are examples of calculations performed using a quantum computer. One of the calculations known to Sven Karlsson was done during the coronavirus pandemic. The Italian football league needed to know how best to schedule the matches so that the different football teams came into contact with each other as little as possible to reduce the risk of infection. Likewise, travel distances for the players had to be limited, as travel by air was banned.

"A quantum computer is well suited for calculations of this type that will take too long for an ordinary supercomputer. The quantum computer can examine many solutions simultaneously and is therefore more efficient at such calculations than a supercomputer," says Sven Karlsson.

Sven Karlsson and his colleagues' collaboration with AQT and IQM includes developing the hardware and software needed to connect the quantum computer to supercomputers.

"The future quantum computers will initially largely be connected to the relatively few high-performance computing centers with supercomputers that exist worldwide. The centers have already built an infrastructure with the right competences to operate the quantum computers, and it also makes sense to invest in relation to the existing centers. Today, a quantum computer costs around DKK 150 million, so it's a relatively large investment," says Sven Karlsson.

The quantum computer will not replace supercomputers. Instead, it will supplement them and be used for highly specific calculations. Nor will the quantum computer have its own user interface, but must be accessed via the supercomputers.

As a result of the current budding production of quantum computers worldwide, large-scale standardization work is being initiated. It includes standards for all the hardware and software parts that make up a quantum computer. The hope is to prevent inexpediencies that we struggle with in other technological areas, such as only being able to use one charger type for our mobile phone.

"We would like to develop joint standards so that, throughout the world, we have the same understanding and use of the different components that make up a quantum computer. This must be done already at this early stage, so that we don't risk individual countries or parts of the world introducing different standards," says Sven Karlsson.

Sven Karlsson leads a group of researchers and practitioners with in-depth experience with and knowledge of quantum computers, who will meet in the coming years to create recognized standards that can be used in future production.

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15 Biggest Quantum Computing Companies in the World – Yahoo Finance

In this article, we will take a look at the 15 biggest quantum computing companies in the world. If you want to see more companies in this selection, go to the 5 Biggest Quantum Computing Companies in the World.

The quantum computing industry is a rapidly evolving and expanding field with significant potential for growth and development in the coming years. According to Precedence Research, the size of the quantum computing industry is expected to grow by over 12 times from $10.13 billion in 2022 to $125 billion by the end of this decade. This would reflect a compound annual growth rate of 36.9% from 2022 to 2030. There has been a noteworthy increase in investment in the quantum computing industry in recent years, with governments, corporations, and venture capital firms all pouring funds into the development of quantum computing hardware, software, and applications.

As the demand for large-scale data analysis and simulation in the industry increases, quantum computing hardware and software development have become crucial. Notable startups in this sector, including Xanadu, ColdQuanta, and QC Ware, along with well-established corporations such as Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL), Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT), Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN), International Business Machines Corporation (NYSE:IBM), D-Wave Systems (NYSE:QBTS), and IonQ, Inc. (NYSE:IONQ) are playing an important role in advancing quantum computing hardware and software. These companies have made significant strides in improving the stability, coherence, and number of qubits, which is a crucial step toward achieving large-scale quantum computing capabilities.

McKinsey has labelled quantum computing as one of the next big trends in the field of technology. Quantum computing, which is just one facet of the broader domain of quantum technology, holds significant promise and is projected to contribute approximately $1.3 trillion in value by the year 2035. In the coming years, the key players in the quantum computing industry are expected to progressively enhance the qubit capacity of their computers. However, this progress is anticipated to be gradual. According to McKinsey's estimation, by 2030, the number of operational quantum computers is expected to reach approximately 5,000 only. Furthermore, the development of hardware and software capable of handling the most intricate problems may not materialize until 2035 or even later. This projected timeline underscores the challenges involved in advancing quantum computing technology to its full potential.

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Currently, prominent Wall Street banks are at the forefront of exploring the potential of quantum technology. A researcher from Goldman Sachs stated in January 2020 that quantum computing has the capacity to become a crucial technology. In addition to Goldman Sachs, other major players in the financial industry, such as JPMorgan and Citigroup, have also established their own quantum computing initiatives and have made investments in quantum computing startups. In 2020, JPMorgan conducted experiments using Honeywell International Inc.'s (NASDAQ:HON) quantum computer with the goal of streamlining mathematical operations that involve Fibonacci numbers. These initiatives show how financial organizations are becoming increasingly interested in using quantum computing to solve complex computational problems.

15 Biggest Quantum Computing Companies in the World

Photo by Anton Maksimov juvnsky on Unsplash

Our Methodology

We conducted extensive research and consulted various industry reports, reputed publications, and news articles to shortlist the 15 biggest quantum computing companies in the world. Some of the companies on the list are technology giants and conglomerates investing heavily in quantum technology, while others are pure-play companies specifically focused on quantum computing. The top quantum computing companies were identified by selecting the companies with the highest market capitalizations, indicating their significant presence and market influence in the quantum computing industry. Furthermore, we also looked into factors such as the company's research and development efforts, technological advancements, patents filed, partnerships and collaborations, and financial investments. We have ranked these companies in ascending order of their market capitalization as of May 1.

Market Capitalization: $57.7 million

2022 Total Revenue: $13.1 million

Rigetti Computing, Inc. (NASDAQ:RGTI) is a Berkeley, California-based quantum computing company founded in 2013. The company specializes in superconducting qubit technology. The company has developed the Forest software development kit and the PyQuil programming language to simulate quantum computations. Rigetti Computing, Inc. (NASDAQ:RGTI) has also developed a suite of software tools and algorithms for programming and simulating quantum computations, including the Forest software development kit and the PyQuil programming language. These tools enable researchers and developers to program and simulate quantum algorithms using existing classical computing infrastructure.

Market Capitalization: $62.7 million

2022 Total Revenue: $7.17 million

D-Wave Quantum Inc. (NYSE:QBTS) is a Burnaby, Canada-based leading provider of quantum computing systems and software with a focus on quantum annealing technology. The company is widely regarded as a pioneer in the development of quantum computing technology. The companys flagship product, the D-Wave Quantum Computer, harnesses the power of quantum annealing to address complex optimization problems prevalent in various industries such as logistics, finance, and machine learning.

Market Capitalization: $101.01 million

2022 Total Revenue: $402.61 million

Quantum Corporation (NASDAQ:QMCO) is a San Jose, California-based company founded in 1980 that specializes in data storage and management solutions, including quantum computing. The company has developed a quantum computing software platform called Quantum ATFS that combines traditional data storage and management with quantum computing capabilities. This platform enables customers to process large amounts of data quickly and efficiently using quantum computing algorithms.

Market Capitalization: $1.12 billion

2022 Total Revenue: $11.13 million

IonQ, Inc. (NYSE:IONQ) is a College Park, Maryland-based quantum computing company founded in 2015. The company was founded by a team of experts in quantum computing and is one of the pure plays on our list of the biggest quantum computing companies in the world. IonQ, Inc. (NYSE:IONQ) is considered a leading provider of trapped-ion quantum computing technology, which has the potential to be more scalable than other quantum computing technologies. IonQ, Inc.s (NYSE:IONQ) quantum computing technology is based on a unique approach that uses trapped ions as qubits, which are manipulated using laser beams. Trapped ion qubits are highly stable and have long coherence times. Click here to read IonQ, Inc.'s (NYSE:IONQ) earnings call transcript for Q4 2022.

Market Capitalization: $1.53 billion (1.39 billion)

2022 Total Revenue: $12.52 billion (11.34 billion)

Atos SE (ATO.PA) is a Bezons, France-based information technology (IT) service and consulting company with a specialization in big data and cybersecurity services. The company has been active in the field of quantum computing for the last several years. The entity has developed a quantum computing hardware platform called Atos Quantum, which includes a range of quantum simulators and a quantum annealer. Atos Quantum also provides a software platform for quantum programming called Atos Quantum Learning Machine (QLM). The QLM can simulate up to 40 qubits and provides a range of programming languages for quantum computing, including Python, C++, and Java.

Market Capitalization: $14 billion (1.90 trillion)

2022 Total Revenue: $24.6 billion (3.35 trillion)

Toshiba Corporation (6502.T) is a Tokyo, Japan-based diversified technology company. The company has made notable advancements in quantum key distribution (QKD), a technique crucial for securely distributing secret digital keys to safeguard highly sensitive information across various industries. Toshiba Corporation (6502.T) has also partnered with several research institutions and companies to develop quantum computing hardware and software. Collaborations with institutions like the University of Tokyo and the National Institute of Informatics have focused on projects such as quantum annealing systems and quantum cryptography systems, demonstrating Toshiba's commitment to advancing quantum technologies.

Market Capitalization: $41.41 billion

2022 Total Revenue: $17.87 billion (123.68 billion)

Baidu, Inc. (NASDAQ:BIDU) is a Beijing, China-based tech corporation that has been investing in the field of quantum computing in recent years. The company's dedicated research team has been actively involved in the development of both quantum computing hardware and software. In August 2022, Baidu, Inc. (NASDAQ:BIDU) introduced its first superconducting quantum computer, demonstrating its progress in integrating hardware, software, and applications. Additionally, Baidu, Inc. (NASDAQ:BIDU) has pioneered the development of a comprehensive quantum hardware-software integration solution, enabling access to a wide range of quantum chips through various platforms such as cloud services, mobile applications, and personal computers.

Here's what Horos Asset Management said about Baidu, Inc. (NASDAQ:BIDU) in its Q4 2022 investor letter:

As I mentioned at the beginning of this quarterly letter, we took advantage of the meltdown in technology platforms to initiate new positions in companies in which we had already been shareholders in the past and whose valuation did not, until now, provide a sufficiently high margin of safety. Such is the case of PayPal and Baidu, Inc.(NASDAQ:BIDU).

In the case of Baidu, as many will know, it is known as the Chinese Google. The company has been the leading Internet search engine in the Asian country for years, which has given it a historically privileged position to monetize, through online advertising, a huge user base. However, the rise of two types of applications has called into question the sustainability of its business model. On the one hand, mobile social apps, such as ByteDances well-known TikTok, have emerged as a new model of online consumption, generating a new platform through which to monetize Internet users. On the other hand, even more disruptive in the long term, is the emergence of the so-called super apps: a sort of virtual Swiss Army knives that allow users to access many products and services without having to leave their interface at any time, making Baidus traditional search engine less attractive. In this field, Tencent (with its super app Weixin/WeChat), Alibaba (Alipay) and Meituan certainly stand out. These two factors have caused Baidus online advertising market share to drop from 17% in 2017 to less than 7% estimated for 2022.34 To this deterioration, we should add the collapse in market value of its stake in iQiyi (video platform controlled by Baidu) and its equity holdings such as Trip.com (hotel and flight platform) (Click here to read the full text)

Market Capitalization: $115.29 billion

2022 Total Revenue: $60.53 billion

International Business Machines Corporation (NYSE:IBM) is an Armonk, New York-based technology company. The entity is considered a trendsetter in the field of quantum computing, having developed some of the earliest quantum computers and quantum algorithms. The company has also established the IBM Quantum Network, which connects researchers and developers working on quantum computing. International Business Machines Corporation's (NYSE:IBM) quantum computing technology is based on superconducting qubits, which are integrated into a quantum processor that is designed to be scalable and reliable.

Diamond Hill Capital shared its outlook on International Business Machines Corporation (NYSE:IBM) in its Q4 2022 investor letter:

New positions initiated in Q4 included shortsInternational Business Machines Corporation (NYSE:IBM), Acushnet Holdings (GOLF) and elf Beauty (ELF). Since diversified information technology company IBMs 2019 acquisition of Red Hat, the company has aggressively pursued a hybrid cloud strategy. Though IBM and its new management team have made solid progress on this pivot, we believe the company still meaningfully lags the cloud hyperscalers and other cloud-native companies. Management has also laid out aggressive long-term targets for revenue growth and free cash flow, both of which we believe the company will struggle to achieve as it faces intense competition in its hybrid cloud business and structural headwinds in the companys legacy businesses.

Market Capitalization: $124.55 billion

2022 Total Revenue: $63.05 billion

Intel Corporation (NASDAQ:INTC) is a Santa Clara, California-based technology company that has been heavily investing in quantum computing research and development (R&D). The company has made significant headway in developing its quantum computing hardware, software, and algorithms. Intel Corporations (NASDAQ:INTC) quantum computing technology is based on a different approach than many other companies in the industry, using spin qubits instead of superconducting qubits. Spin qubits are implemented using silicon, which is a mature and well-understood technology that Intel has extensive experience with. Intel Corporations (NASDAQ:INTC) approach is designed to enable easier manufacturing and scalability of quantum computing systems.

Here's what ClearBridge Investments said about Intel Corporation (NASDAQ:INTC) in its Q3 2022 investor letter:

Also on the detractor side,Intel Corporation(NASDAQ:INTC) delivered a disappointing revenue miss and lowered full-year revenue and earnings guidance as COVID-19-driven demand for PCs abated (where Intel enjoys half its sales) and a delay in its flagship Sapphire Rapids CPU hurt its data center business. Despite these issues, we still believe Intel is an economically sensitive turnaround story with substantial upside.

Market Capitalization: $132.22 billion

2022 Total Revenue: $35.47 billion

Honeywell International Inc. (NASDAQ:HON) is a Charlotte, North Carolina-based company that is a new entrant in the quantum computing industry, focusing on developing quantum computers for industrial and commercial use. Honeywell International Inc.s (NASDAQ:HON) quantum computing system is based on trapped ion technology, which uses ions trapped in a magnetic field to perform quantum computations. The company's quantum computing system consists of a quantum processor made up of ion qubits and a control system used to manipulate and read out the qubits.

In addition to Honeywell International Inc. (NASDAQ:HON), companies such as Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL), Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT), and Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN) are also some of the biggest quantum computing companies in the world.

Click to continue reading and see the 5 Biggest Quantum Computing Companies in the World.

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Disclosure: None. 15 Biggest Quantum Computing Companies in the Worldis originally published on Insider Monkey.

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

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

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Joe Rogan and Michio Kaku Compare Reality to The Matrix as the Duo Address the Wonders of Quantum Computing – EssentiallySports

UFC commentator, Joe Roganhas achieved great success as a podcaster. The biggest reason behind the success of The Joe Rogan Experience is how it entertains people of different interests. Even though Rogan has been an MMA analyst for over two decades, he never made his podcast all about MMA. The 55-year-old invites guests from all walks of life to his show, and that can vary from comedians to scientists. Other than MMA, Rogan has always shown a keen interest in science and technology. He loves to dig deeper into the unknown secrets of the world. Moreover, he is fascinated by the growth of technology over time.

In JRE, the former Fear Factor host has often expressed his concern over the uncontrollable growth of technology. Rogan fears a world where science and technology overpower human efficiency. In a recent episode of JRE, the UFC commentator talked to Dr Michio Kaku. Kaku is a professor of theoretical physics. The two discussed a lot about the tremendous growth of technology over the years.

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In the #1980 episode of JRE, Rogan and Dr Michio Kaku connected the realities of the world to the movie The Matrix. Kaku had written a book called Quantum Supremacy: How the Quantum Computer Revolution Will Change Everything.His vast knowledge of quantum computers made the UFC commentator eager to learn more.

During the conversation, Rogan asked, But if we are talking about technology as we currently understand it today, in comparison to technology as they had available to them a thousand years ago. What we do now, thats insane? And you are talking about quantum computing, which is almost available today and you look at thousand years from now. Couldnt you potentially imagine there could be a world where there is technology sufficient to do what we are talking about? To create a version of reality?

Kaku was able to give a clear answer to Rogans query. He said, Well, if you saw the movie we are all in parts and we are all connected to computers, then stimulus, The Matrix. As long as you are stimulating a piece of the matrix, not the whole thing, but as you walk from place to place, the computer reassembles and replicates that place. That may be possible, but not the whole earth.

Rogans questions to Kaku proved the amount of interest he has in science and technology.

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In the very same episode of JRE, Rogan asked Kaku about the quantum computers that have the ability to break any code. Rogan was concerned about the world without secrets. However, Kaku didnt seem worried like Rogan. The professor told him that the secret codes of some nations had been broken in the past as well.

READ MORE: It Was Like an Assassination: Joe Rogan Recalls Mike Tyson at His Destructive Best in His Most Violent Fight

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He went on to explain about World War II, where the secret codes of the Germans were broken using quantum computers. This helped to know the places where Germany was planning to attack beforehand. Back then, it was technology that helped save millions of lives.

Watch This Story:How Did Joe Rogan Become Famous?

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Joe Rogan and Michio Kaku Compare Reality to The Matrix as the Duo Address the Wonders of Quantum Computing - EssentiallySports

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10 Things in Tech: ‘I saw a quantum computer,’ Gen Zer learns data analytics on YouTube, and Ford’s Ranger Rap – Business Insider India

Wow, Monday comes so quickly. I'm Diamond Naga Siu, and I was a member of The Great Resignation when I joined Insider. Now, I'm likely a member of the next workplace era: The Big Stay.

The massive pay bumps from the past few years are mostly gone. So Americans are suddenly quitting their jobs at way lower rates than before. My colleague Madison Hoff gives us a first-look at this emerging era and breaks down the lingering workplace trend.

Before I go plan some career goals, let's dive into today's tech.

If this was forwarded to you, sign up here. Download Insider's app here.

1. Google's AI demonstration showed how Big Tech keeps on winning. Lots of startups are throwing their hat into the generative AI race. But it looks like Big Tech has a leg up on the competition. And Google's AI event last week underscored this advantage.

Dive into the "race" for AI here.

In other news:

2. "I saw a quantum computer." The powerful, new device was unveiled in a Denver, Colorado data center. It's housed in a drab, windowless room, and Insider's Julie Bort was one of a handful of people given a look. Check it out here.

3. Linda Yaccarino's jump to Twitter CEO leaves NBCUniversal in crisis. She spent nearly 12 years at the company and left days before the biggest ad industry conference of the year. An executive told Insider that her departure is like the "Cuban missile crisis." Dive into the turmoil here.

4. DeepMind co-founder Mustafa Suleyman has a chilling warning for Google, his former employer. Suleyman believes the internet as we know it will fundamentally change and "old school" Search will be gone in a decade. Here's why.

5. AI "digital workers" can complete 1-month tasks in 10 minutes. The state of New Mexico employs 30 "digital workers." They tackle repetitive tasks that free staff up to do other things it's a model for what the future of work could look like. Check it out here.

6. This Gen Zer learned how to be a data analyst via YouTube. His career switch led to a 40% salary bump and stronger benefits. Plus, he and his wife paid down their debts and can now pursue their true passion traveling. Follow his journey here.

7. Once upon a time, this team lip-synced Frozen's "Let It Go" during a Zoom meeting. It was incredibly awkward. But it was also their best team-building moment ever. Now, the recording lives happily ever after online. Watch it here.

8. Ford's "beastly" Ranger Raptor is finally coming to the US. The aggressive-looking, desert-shredding pickup will be available in the US for the first time ever. It's redesigned with a 2.7-liter, turbocharged V6 engine, upgraded interior, and more. Hop in for the full ride here.

Odds and ends:

9. Russian tycoon sues the UK to get his $48 million superyacht back. The massive vessel featuring an "infinite wine cellar" was seized by the government (see it chilling in Canary Wharf here). But now, the property developer wants it back. Set sail here for the full story.

10. Everything you need to know about the Apple Watch Series 8. It's a major upgrade for older WatchOS users. The wearable boasts 36 hours of battery life, advanced health and fitness sensors, and a premium design. Get a full look at it here.

What we're watching today:

Curated by Diamond Naga Siu in San Diego. (Feedback or tips? Email dsiu@insider.com or tweet @diamondnagasiu) Edited by Alistair Barr (tweet @alistairmbarr) in San Francisco and Hallam Bullock (tweet @hallam_bullock) in London.

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10 Things in Tech: 'I saw a quantum computer,' Gen Zer learns data analytics on YouTube, and Ford's Ranger Rap - Business Insider India

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Bridging Quantum Theory and Relativity: Curved Spacetime in a … – SciTechDaily

In the background: the gravitational lens effect, an example of an effect explained by relativity. With quantum particles, analogous effects can be studied. Credit: NASA / TU Wien

New techniques can answer questions that were previously inaccessible experimentally including questions about the relationship between quantum mechanics and relativity.

Scientists at TU Wien and other institutions have developed a quantum simulator using ultracold atomic clouds to model quantum particles in curved spacetime, marking a major step toward reconciling quantum theory and the theory of relativity. The model system offers a tool to study gravitational lensing effects in a quantum field, which may lead to new insights in the elusive field of quantum gravity and other areas of physics.

The theory of relativity works well when you want to explain cosmic-scale phenomena such as the gravitational waves created when black holes collide. Quantum theory works well when describing particle-scale phenomena such as the behavior of individual electrons in an atom. But combining the two in a completely satisfactory way has yet to be achieved. The search for a quantum theory of gravity is considered one of the significant unsolved tasks of science.

This is partly because the mathematics in this field is highly complicated. At the same time, it is tough to perform suitable experiments: One would have to create situations in which phenomena of both the relativity theory play an important role, for example, a spacetime curved by heavy masses, and at the same time, quantum effects become visible, for example, the dual particle and wave nature of light.

At the TU Wien in Vienna, Austria, a new approach has now been developed for this purpose: A so-called quantum simulator is used to get to the bottom of such questions: Instead of directly investigating the system of interest (namely quantum particles in curved spacetime), one creates a model system from which one can then learn something about the system of actual interest by analogy. The researchers have now shown that this quantum simulator works excellently. The findings of this international collaboration involving physicists from the University of Crete, Nanyang Technological University, and FU Berlin are now published in the scientific journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the USA (PNAS).

The basic idea behind the quantum simulator is simple: Many physical systems are similar. Even if they are entirely different kinds of particles or physical systems on different scales that, at first glance, have little to do with each other, these systems may obey the same laws and equations at a deeper level. This means one can learn something about a particular system by studying another.

We take a quantum system that we know we can control and adjust very well in experiments, says Prof. Jrg Schmiedmayer of the Atomic Institute at TU Wien. In our case, these are ultracold atomic clouds held and manipulated by an atom chip with electromagnetic fields. Suppose you properly adjust these atomic clouds so that their properties can be translated into another quantum system. In that case, you can learn something about the other system from the measurement of the atomic cloud model system much like you can learn something about the oscillation of a pendulum from the oscillation of a mass attached to a metal spring: They are two different physical systems, but one can be translated into the other.

We have now been able to show that we can produce effects in this way that can be used to resemble the curvature of spacetime, says Mohammadamin Tajik of the Vienna Center for Quantum Science and Technology (VCQ) TU Wien, first author of the current paper. In the vacuum, light propagates along a so-called light cone. The speed of light is constant; at equal times, the light travels the same distance in each direction. However, if the light is influenced by heavy masses, such as the suns gravitation, these light cones are bent. The lights paths are no longer perfectly straight in curved spacetimes. This is called the gravitational lens effect.

The same can now be shown in atomic clouds. Instead of the speed of light, one examines the speed of sound. Now we have a system in which there is an effect that corresponds to spacetime curvature or gravitational lensing, but at the same time, it is a quantum system that you can describe with quantum field theories, says Mohammadamin Tajik. With this, we have a completely new tool to study the connection between relativity and quantum theory.

The experiments show that the shape of light cones, lensing effects, reflections, and other phenomena can be demonstrated in these atomic clouds precisely as expected in relativistic cosmic systems. This is not only interesting for generating new data for basic theoretical research solid-state physics and the search for new materials also encounter questions that have a similar structure and can therefore be answered by such experiments.

We now want to control these atomic clouds better to determine even more far-reaching data. For example, interactions between the particles can still be changed in a very targeted way, explains Jrg Schmiedmayer. In this way, the quantum simulator can recreate physical situations that are so complicated that they cannot be calculated even with supercomputers.

The quantum simulator thus becomes a new, additional source of information for quantum research in addition to theoretical calculations, computer simulations, and direct experiments. When studying the atomic clouds, the research team hopes to come across new phenomena that may have been entirely unknown up to now, which also take place on a cosmic, relativistic scale but without a look at tiny particles, they might never have been discovered.

Reference: Experimental observation of curved light-cones in a quantum field simulator by Mohammadamin Tajik, Marek Gluza, Nicolas Sebe, Philipp Schttelkopf, Federica Cataldini, Joo Sabino, Frederik Mller, Si-Cong Ji, Sebastian Erne, Giacomo Guarnieri, Spyros Sotiriadis, Jens Eisert and Jrg Schmiedmayer, 15 May 2023, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2301287120

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Bridging Quantum Theory and Relativity: Curved Spacetime in a ... - SciTechDaily

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