The era of quantum utility must also be the era of responsible quantum computing

Now that we’ve entered the era of quantum utility, we are using quantum computers as computational tools to access a computational world we’ve never had access to before. Last year, we used a quantum computer to run a circuit beyond the reach of brute-force classical simulations, and a suite of other utility-scale experiments followed. We expect the advancement to accelerate in the coming year. Introducing a new technology into the world, one that can do things beyond what we could do previously, requires us to be thoughtful — we must research and develop responsibly. To that end, quantum computing and ethics experts have been researching the societal implications of quantum computing.

This talk discusses the role of the quantum computing industry in promoting societally benefical applications of the technology while mitigating their potentially undesired consequences of the technology. It draws on the International Year of Quantum Science and Technology to illustrate the opportunities and challenges for the quantum community and explores concrete examples of responsible quantum practises.