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A D-Wave computer has been used for a machine learning vision task (treat references in the article to "quantum computer" or "qubits" with a qubit of salt):
Scientists have trained a quantum computer to recognize trees. That may not seem like a big deal, but the result means that researchers are a step closer to using such computers for complicated machine learning problems like pattern recognition and computer vision. The team used a D-Wave 2X computer, an advanced model from the Burnaby, Canada–based company that created the world's first quantum computer in 2007.
[...] In the new study, physicist Edward Boyda of St. Mary's College of California in Moraga and colleagues fed hundreds of NASA satellite images of California into the D-Wave 2X processor, which contains 1152 qubits. The researchers asked the computer to consider dozens of features—hue, saturation, even light reflectance—to determine whether clumps of pixels were trees as opposed to roads, buildings, or rivers. They then told the computer whether its classifications were right or wrong so that the computer could learn from its mistakes, tweaking the formula it uses to determine whether something is a tree. "Classification is a tricky problem; there are short trees, tall trees, trees next to each other, next to buildings—all sorts of combinations," says team member Ramakrishna Nemani, an earth scientist at NASA's Advanced Supercomputer Division in Mountain View, California.
After it was trained, the D-Wave was 90% accurate in recognizing trees [open, DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0172505] [DX] in aerial photographs of Mill Valley, California, the team reports in PLOS ONE. It was only slightly more accurate than a conventional computer would have been at the same problem. But the results demonstrate how scientists can program quantum computers to "look" at and analyze images, and opens up the possibility of using them to solve other complex problems that require heavy data crunching.
The 1,152 "qubit" system is not D-Wave's latest product.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday March 09 2017, @08:57PM (7 children)
With one of these I could beat those sites that use ReCAPTCHA.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday March 09 2017, @09:40PM (6 children)
I wouldn't bet on that.
A lot of humans have to ask for multiple tries to get some of those.
...and I'm not getting the "cats" analogy in the title.
Can someone clue me in?
-- OriginalOwner_ [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 2) by takyon on Thursday March 09 2017, @10:04PM
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/06/26/technology/in-a-big-network-of-computers-evidence-of-machine-learning.html?pagewanted=1&ref=technology [nytimes.com]
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/google/9356744/Google-artificial-intelligence-invents-cat.html [telegraph.co.uk]
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday March 09 2017, @10:06PM (3 children)
...and I'm not getting the "cats" analogy in the title.
Can someone clue me in?
Schrödinger's feline. [wikipedia.org]
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday March 09 2017, @10:26PM (2 children)
Ah. "Quantum".
Another animal metaphor: "If it had been a snake, it'd have bitten me."
-- OriginalOwner_ [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 2) by tangomargarine on Thursday March 09 2017, @10:38PM
Rory: How can we be outside the Universe? The Universe is everything.
The Doctor: Imagine a great big soap bubble with one of those tiny little bubbles on the outside.
Rory: Okay.
The Doctor: Well it’s nothing like that.
[...]
Amy: Wait, so we’re in a tiny bubble universe sticking to the side of the bigger bubble universe?
The Doctor: Yeah. No! But if it help, yes.
"Is that really true?" "I just spent the last hour telling you to think for yourself! Didn't you hear anything I said?"
(Score: 2) by takyon on Thursday March 09 2017, @11:00PM
Amazingly, I didn't have Schrödinger's stray in mind at all when I spewed the headline. I was thinking of Google's cat video classification hypegasm from 2012. I guess I don't associate D-Wave with "quantum" since it's a mysterious annealer and not a proven quantum computer.
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 2) by c0lo on Thursday March 09 2017, @10:27PM
It's just BS. I mean... I yet to see a nyan-tree clip.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
(Score: 3, Interesting) by meustrus on Thursday March 09 2017, @09:05PM (1 child)
Since building quantum computing algorithms is so hard, can we build an AI on classical hardware to do it?
If there isn't at least one reference or primary source, it's not +1 Informative. Maybe the underused +1 Interesting?
(Score: 2) by FatPhil on Thursday March 09 2017, @11:01PM
However, note that D-Wave isn't a (general purpose) "Quantum Computer". It's a quantum annealer that can only solve a subset of problem types super-efficiently. Getting a lintel cluster to program it to generate optimal actual Quantum Computation algorithms would be what Dyson would do, I'm sure.
Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people; the smallest discuss themselves
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday March 09 2017, @09:07PM
there are short trees, tall trees, trees next to each other, next to buildings—all sorts of combinations
But none that are the right height. :(
(Score: 1) by meustrus on Thursday March 09 2017, @09:08PM (5 children)
So what does the "D" in "D-Wave" stand for? DeLorean? Must be a SERN plot.
If there isn't at least one reference or primary source, it's not +1 Informative. Maybe the underused +1 Interesting?
(Score: 1, Touché) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday March 09 2017, @09:22PM
Great Scott! I just received a text message that says it can emulate an IBN-5100!
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday March 09 2017, @10:19PM (3 children)
Well, D-Wave is the brand of the gear they're using.
I thought that the D may have related to a founder's name. Nope. [google.com]
In Neurophysiology, a d-wave [google.com] is an electrical impulse with a uniquely identifiable waveform.
It goes from the brain and along the spinal cord, terminating at a muscle and causing that to flex.
Maybe one of our resident physicians can expand on/correct that and perhaps see a connection to the product naming.
-- OriginalOwner_ [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 3, Informative) by takyon on Thursday March 09 2017, @10:26PM (2 children)
Let me Wikipedia that for you:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/D-Wave_Systems#History [wikipedia.org]
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(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday March 09 2017, @10:36PM (1 child)
Today, your logic is far superior to mine.
(My first page of search results was full of references to the company and I started adding Boolean NOTs to eliminate those in order to get a more general answer. D'oh.)
-- OriginalOwner_ [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 2) by takyon on Thursday March 09 2017, @10:57PM
I just assumed the name was made up, until now.
What's more interesting than the name is that despite the extreme skepticism [wikipedia.org] facing the company, they've gone from 128 to 512 to 1152 to 2048 "qubits" with their commercial machines, and continued to attract interest from Google, Lockheed Martin, and others.
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(Score: 3, Funny) by bob_super on Thursday March 09 2017, @11:17PM
The new heads of the EPA and the Department of the Interior have requested estimates on how long it would take to add a robotic chainsaw ...
(Score: 2, Insightful) by its_gonna_be_yuge! on Friday March 10 2017, @01:56AM
"treat references in the article to "quantum computer" or "qubits" with a qubit of salt)"
Ummm .... why? This is a real product, according to Google, IBM, Lockheed, and USC. It works. No need to denigrate it.
https://pressroom.usc.edu/seeking-quantum-ness-d-wave-chip-passes-rigorous-tests/ [usc.edu]