It’s widely known that Google has purchased one of the fastest computers in the world from D-Wave Systems based in Canada. What has not been known until now is what do they hope to accomplish with it.
New Scientist magazine reports in Google and NASA ride D-Wave to a quantum future that the computer stored in NASA’s Ames Research facility will be used to solve some very practical problems.
The goal is to develop quantum AI [artificial intelligence] algorithms, test them on real world problems and quantify the gains over classical computing machinery.
Some will immediately exclaim this is the rise of the machines and the prophecy of a Sci-Fi dystopia. A more likely situation is that we will need computers to solve problems that our brains are simply not capable of comprehending.
A more immediate concern for Google’s AI effort is enhancing their Autonomous Car Program.