D-Wave System has announced last Monday their new seven-year deal with Google, National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), and Universities Space Research Association (USRA) to supply and test their latest D-Wave 2X System. The project will investigate if the new D-Wave's quantum computers could be used as the next face of an artificial intelligence platform.
According to PC World, "[Q]uantum computers will use qubits, or quantum bits, which rely on laws of quantum mechanics to achieve various states. Transistors use one of two--they can be either on or off, in one of two binary states. Qubits, however, can hold multiple states simultaneously, meaning they can be a 1 or a 0, or both at the same time. That could allow them to perform multiple calculations in parallel, vastly increasing their processing power."
D-Wave System claims that "At 1000+ qubits, the D-Wave 2X quantum processor evaluates all 21000 possible solutions simultaneously as it converges on optimal or near optimal solutions, more possibilities than there are particles in the observable universe."
The new D-Wave 2X System however, pose a great challenge. According to the company, the qubits require an operating temperature below 15 millikelvin, near absolute zero and 180 times colder than interstellar space.
In a report by Rapid News Network, Hartmut Neven, Director of Engineering for Google and Head of the Quantum Artificial Intelligence Lab, said that: "Working with the D-Wave processors has helped us develop and fine-tune models of quantum annealing. We look forward to the continued advancements coming from each generation of D-Wave systems."
This not the first time that the tech giant Google has set its eyes on quantum computers. Last year, Google hired a highly-regarded team of quantum computing experts from the University of California to tackle the possibilities of quantum computing in a different perspective. Google also has its own team focusing on the use of the technology on hardware.
Over the past year, many considered D-Wave as a hoax, but with the involvement of a huge company and government names, it can possibly be legitimate.
