While Google announces a quantum computing milestone, the technology is still unable to tackle real-world issues.

• Google has announced a new chip called Willow that it claims represents a significant advancement in the field of quantum computing, an emerging technology that many tech companies are focusing on.
• Despite Google's advancements in the field, experts believe that quantum computing has not yet found practical applications in the real world.
• Quantum computing proponents assert that it will solve problems beyond the capabilities of current computers, resulting in possible advancements in fields such as medicine, science, and finance.

A new chip has been unveiled by the company, marking a significant breakthrough in the field of quantum computing, which is viewed as the next frontier for many tech companies.

Despite Google's advancements in the field, experts believe that quantum computing has not yet found practical applications in the real world.

""This isn't the ChatGPT moment for quantum," said Francesco Ricciuti, associate at Runa Capital, referencing OpenAI's chatbot that has been credited with driving the boom in artificial intelligence."

What has Google claimed?

Quantum computing proponents assert that it will solve problems beyond the capabilities of current computers.

In classical computing, data is represented using bits, which can have values of either one or zero. In contrast, quantum computing employs qubits that can exist in a range of values, including zero, one, and something in between.

Quantum computers have the potential to process vast amounts of data, which could result in breakthroughs in fields such as medicine, science, and finance.

Google on Monday announced Willow, its latest quantum chip.

According to Hartmut Neven, founder of Google Quantum AI, the more qubits used, the more errors will occur, resulting in a classical system.

Quantum error correction has been a challenge for almost 30 years, but Willow claims to have found a solution that exponentially reduces errors as the number of qubits is scaled up.

Willow's performance was evaluated by Google using the random circuit sampling (RCS) benchmark, a task that classical computers struggle to solve.

Google announced that Willow completed a computation in under five minutes that would take one of today's fastest supercomputers 10 septillion years, or 10,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 years.

Neven stated that this astonishing number surpasses established timeframes in physics and far outstrips the age of the universe.

Has Google truly made a quantum breakthrough?

Winfried Hensinger, a professor of quantum technologies at the University of Sussex, stated that Google's Willow chip represents a "new milestone in how quantum computers can handle errors that occur during their operation."

"The use of extra qubits to correct errors increases the effectiveness of their technique, marking a significant milestone for quantum computers."

Although experts in the field have suggested that Google's quantum computing breakthrough may not have real-world uses, there is still optimism that quantum computing could change the world.

Ricciuti from Runa Capital stated that Google's assertions of achievement are "grounded on duties and benchmarks that are not truly applicable in practical circumstances."

Ricciuti stated that they are attempting to define a significant issue that normal computers cannot solve with quantum computers. Although it is impressive, it does not necessarily make it practical.

According to Hensinger, Willow is still not big enough to perform useful calculations, and quantum computers will need "millions of qubits" to solve significant industry problems. Willow currently has 105 qubits.

Google's chip utilizes superconducting qubits, a technology that demands extreme cooling, which may hinder its scalability.

According to Hensinger, building quantum computers with a large number of qubits using superconducting qubits as cooling would be challenging because cooling so many qubits to the required temperature, which is close to absolute zero, would be difficult or impossible.

Both Hensinger and Ricciuti concur that Google's advancements in quantum computing contribute to the anticipation for further progress in the field.

Hensinger stated that this outcome strengthens the belief that humans can construct functional quantum computers, which will enable some of the significant applications that quantum computers are renowned for.