Google DeepMind has come up with an error correction technique it says will make quantum computers more reliable, particularly at scale. While quantum computing holds tremendous promise — potentially able to solve in just a few hours problems it would take a conventional computer “billions of years” to figure out, Google claims — the systems are notoriously unstable, due to the delicacy of the “quantum state.” AlphaQubit is an AI-based decoder that identifies quantum computing errors with accuracy. Combining DeepMind’s machine learning expertise with Google Quantum AI error correction, the technique advances efforts to create a reliable quantum computer.

“Accurately identifying errors is a critical step towards making quantum computers capable of performing long computations at scale, opening the doors to scientific breakthroughs and many new areas of discovery,” DeepMind explained in an announcement touting the breakthrough, introduced in a paper published in Nature.

SiliconANGLE reports Google’s AI-powered decoder system “can identify computing errors with unparalleled accuracy,” going into the background of how to help maintain the quantum state. “Existing quantum computers either run at temperatures close to absolute zero, or use novel technologies like lasers to manipulate ion-based qubits held in a vacuum,” adaptions that “don’t completely solve the problem of instability.”

The DeepMind technique deals with “the instability problem by grouping multiple qubits into a single, logical qubit and performing regular consistency checks on them,” making it possible to “identify logical qubits that deviate from the norm, and correct them when it happens,” SiliconANGLE explains.

Decrypt says Google’s AI-powered error-correction breakthrough “brings quantum computing closer to real-world applications.” In addition to Google, companies working on quantum error correction systems include IBM, Quantinuum, Riverlane and Rigetti. (In a blog post, Google offers the explainer “What is Quantum Computing?”)

In other quantum news, Amazon Web Services (which in 2021 opened the Center for Quantum Computing at Caltech) has announced that its quantum computing service, Braket, has rolled out an advisory service called Quantum Embark to provide “context, guidance, and expertise to help customers who are just starting their quantum journey.”

“This program is designed to empower customers to work backwards from their most business-critical and compute intensive use cases, develop an understanding of the state of the art, pinpoint relevant quantum technologies to focus on, and ultimately make informed decisions about future resourcing and their long-term quantum roadmap,” according to an AWS blog post.