New Codes Could Accelerate the Advent of Practical Quantum Computing https://singularityhub.com/?p=153139 #Topics #Computing #singuarityhub One of the biggest stumbling blocks for quantum computers is their tendency to be error-prone and the massive computational overhead required to clean up their mistakes. IBM has now made a breakthrough by dramatically reducing the number of qubits required to do so. All computers are prone to errors, and even the computer chip in […]

IBM’s Brain-Inspired Analog Chip Aims to Make AI More Sustainable https://singularityhub.com/?p=153125 #Topics #Artificial_Intelligence #Computing #singuarityhub ChatGPT, DALL-E, Stable Diffusion, and other generative AIs have taken the world by storm. They create fabulous poetry and images. They’re seeping into every nook of our world, from marketing to writing legal briefs and drug discovery. They seem like the poster child for a man-machine mind meld success story. But under the hood, things

The Digital Future May Rely on Optical Switches a Million Times Faster Than Today’s Transistors https://singularityhub.com/?p=152855 #Experts #Computing #singuarityhub If you’ve ever wished you had a faster phone, computer, or internet connection, you’ve encountered the personal experience of hitting a limit of technology. But there might be help on the way. Over the past several decades, scientists and engineers like me have worked to develop faster transistors, the electronic components under

Microsoft Wants to Build a Quantum Supercomputer Within a Decade https://singularityhub.com/?p=152648 #Topics #Computing #singuarityhub Since the start of the quantum race Microsoft has placed its bets on the elusive but potentially game-changing topological qubit. Now the company claims its hail Mary has paid off, saying it could build a working processor in less than a decade. Today’s leading quantum computing companies have predominantly focused on qubits—the quantum equivalent of […]

An IBM Quantum Computer Beat a Supercomputer in a Benchmark Test https://singularityhub.com/?p=152399 #Topics #Computing #singuarityhub Quantum computers may soon tackle problems that stump today’s powerful supercomputers—even when riddled with errors. Computation and accuracy go hand in hand. But a new collaboration between IBM and UC Berkeley showed that perfection isn’t necessarily required for solving challenging problems, from understanding the behavior of magnetic materials to modeling ho

Scientists Just Showed How Quantum Computers Could Be Based on Sound Waves https://singularityhub.com/?p=152307 #Topics #Computing #singuarityhub A weird and wonderful array of technologies are competing to become the standard-bearer for quantum computing. The latest contender wants to encode quantum information in sound waves. One thing all quantum computers have in common is the fact that they manipulate information encoded in quantum states. But that’s where the similarities end, because tho

Scientists Merge Biology and Technology With 3D Printed Electronics Inside Living Worms https://singularityhub.com/?p=151332 #Topics #3D_Printing #BrainComputer_Interface #Computing #singuarityhub Finding ways to integrate electronics into living tissue could be crucial for everything from brain implants to new medical technologies. A new approach has shown that it’s possible to 3D print circuits into living worms. There has been growing interest in finding ways to more closely integrate techno

A Chipmaking Step Crucial to the Future of Computing Just Got 40x Faster https://singularityhub.com/?p=151024 #Topics #Computing #singuarityhub If computer chips make the modern world go around, then Nvidia and TSMC are flywheels keeping it spinning. It’s worth paying attention when the former says they’ve made a chipmaking breakthrough, and the latter confirms they’re about to put it into practice. At Nvidia’s GTC developer conference this week, CEO Jensen Huang said Nvidia has […]

The Limits of Computing: Why Even in the Age of AI, Some Problems Are Just Too Difficult https://singularityhub.com/?p=150682 #Experts #Computing #singuarityhub Empowered by artificial intelligence technologies, computers today can engage in convincing conversations with people, compose songs, paint paintings, play chess and go, and diagnose diseases, to name just a few examples of their technological prowess. These successes could be taken to indicate that computation has no limits. To see if

Google Scrambles to Catch Up in the Wake of OpenAI’s ChatGPT https://singularityhub.com/?p=150220 #Topics #Artificial_Intelligence #Computing #Tech #singuarityhub Google is one of the biggest companies on Earth. Google’s search engine is the front door to the internet. And according to recent reports, Google is scrambling. Late last year, OpenAI, an artificial intelligence company at the forefront of the field, released ChatGPT. Alongside Elon Musk’s Twitter acquisition and fallout from FTX’s c

Crash and Merge: Can Crypto’s Calamitous Year Save It From Itself? https://singularityhub.com/?p=149966 #Topics #Bitcoin #Blockchain #Computing #Cryptocurrency #singuarityhub Cryptocurrencies have had a calamitous year, littered with hacks, bankruptcies, and precipitously declining prices. What went wrong—and are there any bright spots to look forward to in 2023? Crypto markets hit all-time highs in November 2021, with Bitcoin’s price peaking at $68,000, driven by excitement around NFTs, play-t

Physicists Simulate a Simplified Wormhole on Google’s Quantum Computer https://singularityhub.com/?p=149660 #Topics #Computing #Science #singuarityhub Wormholes might sound like something that belongs in a Star Trek episode rather than a research paper, but scientists just simulated one on Google’s Sycamore quantum computer. The result suggests these devices could be used to test out fundamental physical theories. The possibility of wormholes was first outlined in a 1935 paper by Albert Einstei

This AI Supercomputer Has 13.5 Million Cores—and Was Built in Just Three Days https://singularityhub.com/?p=149451 #Topics #Artificial_Intelligence #Computing #singuarityhub Artificial intelligence is on a tear. Machines can speak, write, play games, and generate original images, video, and music. But as AI’s capabilities have grown, so too have its algorithms. A decade ago, machine learning algorithms relied on tens of millions of internal connections, or parameters. Today’s algorithms regular

Scientists Build Synthetic Molecular Machines That Can Read Data https://singularityhub.com/?p=149217 #Topics #Computing #Science #singuarityhub All life, as far as we know, assembles itself molecule by molecule. The blueprint for our bodies is encoded on ribbons of DNA and RNA. Cellular factories called ribosomes make these blueprints physical by linking amino acids into long strands called proteins. And these proteins, of which there are hundreds of millions, form an array […]

DeepMind AI One-Ups Mathematicians at a Calculation Crucial to Computing https://singularityhub.com/?p=148755 #Topics #Artificial_Intelligence #Computing #singuarityhub DeepMind has done it again. After solving a fundamental challenge in biology—predicting protein structure—and untangling the mathematics of knot theory, it’s taken aim at a fundamental computing process embedded inside thousands of everyday applications. From parsing images to modeling weather or even probing the inner workings

NVIDIA Is Making a Digital Twin of Earth’s Climate. Here’s an Inside Look https://singularityhub.com/?p=148480 #Experts #Computing #Future #singuarityhub Several weeks ago, clima­­te scientists said an extreme heatwave in China was the worst on record anywhere. Days later, Pakistan declared a national state of emergency due to unprecedented flooding. In Europe, record summer heat included the highest temperature ever recorded in Britain. And, in the US, the worst drought in over a thousand year

Like a Swarm of Bees, These Drones Can 3D Print Structures While in Flight https://singularityhub.com/?p=148437 #Topics #3D_Printing #Computing #Robotics #singuarityhub I admit: if I see a beehive, I back away—fresh honey be damned. But part of me is also fascinated. Beehives are a remarkable feat of engineering. Made of materials from tree buds to chewed-up wax, swarms of bees deposit these raw ingredients into densely-packed honeycombs—each a geometric masterpiece—while flying in the air. In

The Tech That Will Push VR to the Limits of the Human Eye https://singularityhub.com/?p=148335 #Topics #Computing #Future_of_Virtual_Reality #Virtual_Reality #singuarityhub Big tech is eager to get us excited about the coming of the metaverse, but today’s virtual reality hardware is a long way from meeting their ambitious goals. One of the biggest challenges is building better displays with far more pixels per inch, but experts say new materials and designs are on the way. Silicon […]

Meta Built an AI That Can Guess the Words You’re Hearing by Decoding Your Brainwaves https://singularityhub.com/?p=148187 #Topics #Artificial_Intelligence #BrainComputer_Interface #Computing #singuarityhub Being able to decode brainwaves could help patients who have lost the ability to speak to communicate again, and could ultimately provide novel ways for humans to interact with computers. Now Meta researchers have shown they can tell what words someone is hearing using recordings from non-inv

This Mighty Brain Chip Is So Efficient It Could Bring Advanced AI to Your Phone https://singularityhub.com/?p=147900 #Topics #Artificial_Intelligence #Computing #singuarityhub AI and conventional computers are a match made in hell. The main reason is how hardware chips are currently set up. Based on the traditional Von Neumann architecture, the chip isolates memory storage from its main processors. Each computation is a nightmarish Monday morning commute, with the chip constantly shuttling data