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Google: We've achieved quantum supremacy! IBM: Nope. And stop using that word, please

posted by takyon on Wednesday October 23 2019, @09:15AM   
from the low-lying-qubits dept.

"exec" writes:

Arthur T Knackerbracket has found the following story:

The esoteric world of quantum computing is all aquiver following a robust blog post from IBM essentially rubbishing claims from Google that it has achieved "quantum supremacy".

The post notes that quantum computing is approaching the limits of classical simulation and there are big questions as to how to evaluate and benchmark system performance. Quantum supremacy is the moment quantum machines begin to do things classical computers cannot.

But Big Blue dismissed Google's most recent claims for its 53-qubit processor revealed in a leaked document last month.

IBM notes: "In the preprint, it is argued that their device reached 'quantum supremacy' and that 'a state-of-the-art supercomputer would require approximately 10,000 years to perform the equivalent task'. "We argue that an ideal simulation of the same task can be performed on a classical system in 2.5 days and with far greater fidelity. This is in fact a conservative, worst-case estimate, and we expect that with additional refinements, the classical cost of the simulation can be further reduced."

IBM blog post.

Previously:

IBM and Google’s Race for Quantum Computing Takes a Mysterious Turn
Google Quantum Processor Reportedly Achieves Quantum Supremacy

-- submitted from IRC

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Original Submission

• The time is now. (Score: 4, Interesting) by looorg on Wednesday October 23 2019, @02:02PM

  by looorg (578) on Wednesday October 23 2019, @02:02PM (#910795)

  We argue that an ideal simulation of the same task can be performed on a classical system in 2.5 days and with far greater fidelity. This is in fact a conservative, worst-case estimate, and we expect that with additional refinements the classical cost of the simulation can be further reduced.

  Isn't it time to put up or shut up then? It's an ideal opportunity to show up the competition. "Check out the Google muppets, they need to build a quantum computer to solve this problem that we solved with this old "classical system" (which probably is a state of the art current machine but still) without any problem. The Googlers (or whatever) are out of their minds and are wasting resources. Something that Big Blue IBM would never do. Call our sales reps now ..."

  Starting Score:	1		point
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