4 ms·

Turning quantum into a business model that is not only self-sustaining but at the level of profitability of IBM's legacy business... that's a big ask for even t

by btown 3y ago

Turning quantum into a business model that is not only self-sustaining but at the level of profitability of IBM's legacy business... that's a big ask for even the most agile company with the best technologists in the world. And if they internally knew their Quantum System 2 was game-changing - why do this desperate move in their cloud business?

bob1029 3y ago
> that's a big ask If practical quantum does pan out, it will make this current AI situation look insignificant by comparison. It may also become extremely synergistic with the current AI movement. Quantum search will allow for us to seek out global minima across gigantic parameter sets. > why do this desperate move in their cloud business? Everyone is jacking up their prices. Microsoft would have to triple our cost before we'd think about tearing up our tech stack and moving again.
- jncfhnb 3y ago
  I doubt global maxima are meaningfully different than the local maxima achieved today tbh. Especially considering the effort to avoid overfitting.
- rightbyte 3y ago
  > Quantum search will allow for us to seek out global minima across gigantic parameter sets. Just like pouring water on the floor will find the global minima on it. Just wait until there is one puddle left. O(1). I am yet to be convinced quantum computers are real at all and not just some slow convoluted variant of an analogue computer.
  - thatguy0900 3y ago
    Pouring water on the floor is probably a pretty good example of finding a local minima
    - jacquesm 3y ago
      If the floor is the surface you are interested in and if you're not in space... It's gravity that does the sorting for you, if you want to do this in space at a minimum you will have to have a spinning container and the surface you're interested in had better be the floor.
- allenrb 3y ago
  You’ve hit the nail on the head here, imho. The people running these clouds aren’t fools. Prices will absolutely continue to rise.
- btown 3y ago
  There's a significant gap of engineering effort between practical quantum at the scale of "rent time on the small handful of systems in the world that can do this" vs. at the scale of "anyone can rent or buy hardware to do this at scale." IBM may possibly be able to recoup their investment in quantum by whale-hunting with the former (and certainly some of the crypto-breaking characteristics will make that quite lucrative to sell to state-level agencies), but it will likely be decades before every company in the world is asking the question "how can quantum help us" the way they are with generative AI.
te_chris 3y ago
Because they can. Moving workloads likely too hard.

by btown 3y ago

bob1029 3y ago

> that's a big ask If practical quantum does pan out, it will make this current AI situation look insignificant by comparison. It may also become extremely synergistic with the current AI movement. Quantum search will allow for us to seek out global minima across gigantic parameter sets. > why do this desperate move in their cloud business? Everyone is jacking up their prices. Microsoft would have to triple our cost before we'd think about tearing up our tech stack and moving again.

jncfhnb 3y ago
I doubt global maxima are meaningfully different than the local maxima achieved today tbh. Especially considering the effort to avoid overfitting.
rightbyte 3y ago
> Quantum search will allow for us to seek out global minima across gigantic parameter sets. Just like pouring water on the floor will find the global minima on it. Just wait until there is one puddle left. O(1). I am yet to be convinced quantum computers are real at all and not just some slow convoluted variant of an analogue computer.
- thatguy0900 3y ago
  Pouring water on the floor is probably a pretty good example of finding a local minima
  - jacquesm 3y ago
    If the floor is the surface you are interested in and if you're not in space... It's gravity that does the sorting for you, if you want to do this in space at a minimum you will have to have a spinning container and the surface you're interested in had better be the floor.
allenrb 3y ago
You’ve hit the nail on the head here, imho. The people running these clouds aren’t fools. Prices will absolutely continue to rise.
btown 3y ago
There's a significant gap of engineering effort between practical quantum at the scale of "rent time on the small handful of systems in the world that can do this" vs. at the scale of "anyone can rent or buy hardware to do this at scale." IBM may possibly be able to recoup their investment in quantum by whale-hunting with the former (and certainly some of the crypto-breaking characteristics will make that quite lucrative to sell to state-level agencies), but it will likely be decades before every company in the world is asking the question "how can quantum help us" the way they are with generative AI.

te_chris 3y ago

Because they can. Moving workloads likely too hard.