Quantum Computing Scientists Call for Ethical Guidelines
01 February 2021 - 4:30PM
Dow Jones News
By Sara Castellanos
A group of quantum computing experts, including scientists and
company executives, want to raise ethical concerns about the
technology's potential to create new materials for war and
accelerate human DNA manipulation.
Six experts are featured in a 13-minute video titled " Quantum
Ethics: A Call to Action," which goes live Monday on YouTube and
the Quantum Daily, a free online source for quantum computing
news.
The goal of the video, which features a former quantum chief at
Alphabet Inc.'s Google, is to kick off conversations with other
quantum computing industry leaders about the ethical implications
of the technology.
"Whenever we have a new computing power, there is potential for
benefit of humanity, [but] you can imagine ways that it would also
hurt people," said John Martinis, professor of physics at
University of California, Santa Barbara, and former chief scientist
of quantum hardware at Google.
While quantum computers are still in their early stages, it is
important to begin discussing the potential benefits and drawbacks
of the technology and find a way to balance the two, he said. "You
want to think ahead," he said.
Dr. Martinis and others such as Ilana Wisby, chief executive of
quantum computing company Oxford Quantum Circuits, and Nick Farina,
founder and chief executive of quantum computing hardware company
EeroQ Corp., are also featured in the short video.
Quantum computers have the potential to dramatically speed up
drug and materials discovery as well as complex calculations
related to finance. Companies such as Visa Inc. and JPMorgan Chase
& Co., Roche Holding AG and Volkswagen AG are all experimenting
with early-stage quantum technology.
By harnessing quantum physics, quantum computers have the
potential to sort through a vast number of possibilities in nearly
real time and come up with a probable solution. While traditional
computers store information as either zeros or ones, quantum
computers use quantum bits, or qubits, which represent and store
information as both zeros and ones simultaneously.
A commercial-grade quantum computer hasn't been built yet, but
startups and tech giants including Google, Microsoft Corp. and
International Business Machines Corp. are racing to commercialize
the technology.
"This is the equivalent of a whole new industrial revolution,"
said llyas Khan, founder and chief executive of Cambridge Quantum
Computing, which develops cybersecurity products, software and
algorithms that companies can use when experimenting on early-stage
quantum computers. That power, in the wrong hands, could also be
used to create harmful materials or to manipulate the human genome
in a harmful way, he said. "We ought to have those conversations
today," said Mr. Khan, who was also featured in the video.
Though it will likely take years to come up with ethical
guidelines for quantum computers, Mr. Khan said he is beginning to
speak with government officials in the U.K. about those ethical
issues now. There may have been certain ethical controls on
technologies such as social media and data privacy if conversations
about ethics were had in the mid-1990s, he said. "We were asleep at
the wheel," said Mr. Khan.
Experts are already bracing themselves for some of quantum
computing's potential challenges. For example, financial services
companies are preparing for a time when a powerful quantum computer
could break some of the most widespread cryptographic methods
currently used in cybersecurity. Hundreds of the world's top
cryptographers are involved in a competition to develop new
encryption standards for the U.S. that would guard against both
classical and quantum-computing cyberattacks.
Matt Swayne, an editor at the Quantum Daily who co-produced the
short video along with Publisher and co-founder Evan Kubes, said he
aims to create an advisory group of experts to discuss the topic of
quantum ethics. The video is the first step, he said. "We want to
raise concern but we don't want to cause fear," he said.
Write to Sara Castellanos at sara.castellanos@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
February 01, 2021 00:15 ET (05:15 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2021 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG)
Historical Stock Chart
From May 2024 to Jun 2024
Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG)
Historical Stock Chart
From Jun 2023 to Jun 2024