Google and NASA haven’t given up on D-Wave’s quantum computer

New Scientist : Google purchased one of D-Wave’s quantum computers last year and is housing it at NASA’s Ames Research Center in California. Through a Freedom of Information Act request, New Scientist obtained a copy of the contract that Google and NASA signed. That contract reveals that the two organizations are working together to “develop quantum AI algorithms, test them on real world problems and quantify the gains over classical computing machinery.” Individually, Google wants to develop new algorithms for its core operations such as ranking of search results, spam filtering, and ad placement. NASA is looking for algorithms for air traffic control, the planning of planetary rover missions, and data analysis. Google’s researchers now believe they have evidence that the D-Wave machine does make use of quantum effects and have detected an increase in calculation speed at lower temperatures. However, the results of the tests on the machine so far do not appear to be as successful as originally hoped.