Quantum-hype during COVID-19

Qu&Co comments on this publication:

At Qu&Co we always restrained ourselves from reacting to exaggerated claims about the short-term potential of quantum-computing. Rather we focused on our scientifically rigorous work to advance the field of quantum as we strongly believe in its long-term potential. However, we draw the line at quantum being pushed as a short-term solution for researchers working on COVID, like this WSJ article in which a quantum hardware manufacturer offers free hardware access to researchers studying COVID, stating ‘we have a fairly unique system that could add value’. Although this offer could be a misplaced April-fools joke, we want to stress that, although quantum has strong long-term potential, there is zero chance it will provide any short-term value for COVID research. Therefore, no serious researchers working on the current pandemic should be distracted by this offer. If you are determined to use novel methods to solve today’s combinatorial optimisation problems, perhaps try simulated annealing on a purpose-built classical processor. And of course, if your time horizon is >2 years and you want to work on collaborative quantum-algorithm R&D, without distracting scarce COVID R&D staff, we are here to help. Stay safe and focused!