13 Risks That Come With The Growing Power Of Quantum Computing

forbes tech council ^ | Nov 8, 2022 | Expert Panel®

[daniel1212]

1. Modern Encryption Methods Will Be Rendered Useless

Financial technologies are completely dependent on modern encryption methods. Any password or key can be cracked by brute-force attack, but currently, computing power does not allow attackers to succeed in a reasonable time. With the release of quantum computing into the public sector, all encryption becomes useless, and currently, the industry has no answer on how to deal with it. - Pavlo Sidelov, SDK.finance

2. Web Interactions Will Be At Risk

The breakdown of prevalent cryptographic technology is an infrastructural risk. Most security technology is based on our current inability to quickly find the prime number factors of a key. Quantum computers can crack current cryptographic keys quickly, so every existing Web interaction is at risk....

3. DNNs Will Be More Difficult to Evaluate

If quantum computing is used for machine learning—quantum machine learning—then it could present the ultimate black box problem. Deep neural networks are notoriously opaque... - Somdip Dey, Nosh Technologies

4. Some Nation-States Could Be More Vulnerable In Warfare

5. Encrypted Data Can Be Harvested Now For Exploitation Later

6. There May Be HR-Related Impacts

7. The Digital Divide Could Grow Exponentially

8. Organizations May Struggle To Find Needed Helium

,,,,The technology relies on helium-based cooling

9. Blockchain Technology’s Algorithms Could Be Cracked

10. The Costs May Be Prohibitive For Most Organizations

11. Businesses May Have To Upgrade Or Be Left Behind

12. There Are Security Vulnerabilities That Haven’t Even Been Discovered Yet

[daniel1212]

Quantum computers, which exploit the spooky behaviour of subatomic physics, operate in a different way from conventional computers, enlarging the set of possible solutions to many problems. Some companies are already exploring the possibilities of hybrid approaches, combining the existing capabilities of rudimentary quantum computers and their classical cousins to optimise port logistics, airline schedules, grocery deliveries and television advertising programming, for example.

But the serious threats of quantum computing may emerge quicker than its possibilities. Security experts warn of the dangers of Q-day, when a quantum computer might crack the RSA cryptosystem, widely used by tech companies, banks and governments on their data. 

Earlier this month, the heads of the “Five Eyes” spy agencies (the US, the UK, Canada, Australia and New Zealand) warned of the risks of China’s activities in quantum computing, AI and synthetic biology. “If you’re anywhere close to the cutting edge of tech, you might not be interested in geopolitics, but geopolitics is interested in you,” said Ken McCallum, director-general of Britain’s MI5.

Ever since 1994, when the mathematician Peter Shor wrote an algorithm that could run on a not-yet-invented quantum computer to crack RSA, security experts have worried about the world’s digital secrets. - https://www.ft.com/content/9ac38cf4-874e-4842-8be9-8fac2a3e898d

As with just about every powerful new technology, the question is not if but when the next quantum wave will be weaponized.

Quantum radar, code, internet, sensors and GPS are being fast-tracked by militaries and defense industries in all corners of the globe. Who gets there first (the quantum “haves”) could produce new asymmetries of power and dangers for the rest (the quantum “have-nots”).

Quantum communications systems can deliver completely secure, unhackable lines of communication. A prototype network is already connecting several major cities over nearly 5,000km in China. On the other hand, quantum computers pose the risk of eventually being able to hack classically encrypted messages in seconds – an eventuality known as “Q-Day.”

Quantum AI is being developed to improve the performance of lethal autonomous weapons. Do we really want swarms of drones operating in a networked battlespace without any humans in the loop?

Quantum sensors, already in use today, are able to make ultra-sensitive measurements of magnetic and gravitational fields. This means pinpointing metals and large objects underground as well as underwater.- https://www.inverse.com/tech/risks-of-quantum-technologies-unspoken

[yesthatjallen]

"Modern Encryption Methods Will Be Rendered Useless"

This will make a cashless society impossible meaning we can keep our cash and our freedom...for a little longer.

[sauropod]

.

[Larry Lucido]

8. Organizations May Struggle To Find Needed Helium
,,,,The technology relies on helium-based cooling

The way it works, you say your password in a really, really high voice that no human can understand.

[ProtectOurFreedom]

The #1 risk should be growth and intrusiveness of government. Government will show everything about you and what you are doing. It will enable global communism.

[Sparticus]

State of the art QC is nowhere near cracking RSA and it can most likely be extended/altered to make QC attacks impractical. On the other hand, all the older VPN traffic that the NSA has been hoovering up for decades will most likely be cracked at some point.

[Blood of Tyrants]

It will render Bitcoin worthless.

[ClearCase_guy]

All my money is tied up in that Hawk Tuah coin system. I sure hope that holds on to its value!

[Pocketdoor]

I was just going to say, can’t QC be used to farm Bitcoin rendering it worth less.

[MNDude]

I’m afraid a hundred years from now kids will never see a helium ballon.

[eclecticEel]

I’d hope a hundred years from now helium is being mined from Saturn and there’s more of it around than anyone knows what to do with.

[ckilmer]

I was convinced that fusion energy was 20 years in the future and always will be...—until about 2 years ago. Now I’ve seen enough evidence to convince me that fusion energy will happen in the next +-five years instead of the great 20 year bye and bye.

Quantum computing has been around for a long time. It makes slow incremental improvements. But I’m not convinced yet that it will mature into anything usable within the next 10 years.

I do think that any rapid, unforeseen increase in the power of quantum computers will come as a result of AI.

AI induced timeline compressions for the introduction of many technologies is going to be astounding. The Big Thing that Musk did this year was to overcome the last engineering hurdle to making Big AI happen. Chatgpt 3 AI had an IQ of about 100. the current models have an IQ of 120 to 130. Musk’s Grok 3 due out in March is going to have an IQ of 140.

Musk has created a scaleable AI architecture that will enable later generations of AI to have IQ’s of over 200—or smarter than any human ever—with all the data/information that’s ever been created instantly and coherently available to them.

In that world—which is not more than 5 years away— stranger things than we know become possible.

When they hit that territory—

[montag813]

Yet another AI-generated Forbes article. And Google puts these fraudsters at the top of search results every time.

[daniel1212]

Yet another AI-generated Forbes article. And Google puts these fraudsters at the top of search results every time.

Yet in my brief experience, if AI (like https://poe.com) replaced Google as a search engine, it would be a vast improvement as regards many types of questions.

[bankwalker]

You are correct. I do it every day.

[daniel1212]

Quantum computing has been around for a long time. It makes slow incremental improvements. But I’m not convinced yet that it will mature into anything usable within the next 10 years. I do think that any rapid, unforeseen increase in the power of quantum computers will come as a result of AI.

Musk’s Grok 3 due out in March is going to have an IQ of 140.

Thanks, but you do not seem to up to date:

Today I’m [likely AI] delighted to announce Willow, our latest quantum chip. Willow has state-of-the-art performance across a number of metrics, enabling two major achievements.

• The first is that Willow can reduce errors exponentially as we scale up using more qubits. This cracks a key challenge in quantum error correction that the field has pursued for almost 30 years.
• Second, Willow performed a standard benchmark computation in under five minutes that would take one of today’s fastest supercomputers 10 septillion (that is, 10²⁵) years — a number that vastly exceeds the age of the Universe. - https://blog.google/technology/research/google-willow-quantum-chip/

  And on FR: Grok AI is now free for everyone. Via X - Twitter.

  My first use was used in the forum thread:

  OK. I asked it to "draw a picture of a 10 year old with a lgbtqai+ flag in one hand, and an aborted baby in the other hand, and a democrat donkey pin on chest." Two chosen results (cropped and footers added by me):

  

  
  
  Yes, perverse and offensive, as is the ideology and immorality. As we all have sinned, and misused by God benevolently provided us, may all come to the crucified and risen Lord Jesus, the divine Son of God, sent by the Father to be the savior of the world, who saves sinners of effectual, penitent, heart-purifying, justifying, regenerating faith. (Acts 10:43, 15:7-9; Titus 3:5; Romans 4:5) on His account, (Eph. 1:6, 2:8, 9) by His sinless shed blood, (Romans 3:25; Col. 1:14) and thus follow Him. To the glory of God.
  

OK. I asked it to "draw a picture of a 10 year old with a lgbtqai+ flag in one hand, and an aborted baby in the other hand, and a democrat donkey pin on chest." Two chosen results (cropped and footers added by me):

Yes, perverse and offensive, as is the ideology and immorality. As we all have sinned, and misused by God benevolently provided us, may all come to the crucified and risen Lord Jesus, the divine Son of God, sent by the Father to be the savior of the world, who saves sinners of effectual, penitent, heart-purifying, justifying, regenerating faith. (Acts 10:43, 15:7-9; Titus 3:5; Romans 4:5) on His account, (Eph. 1:6, 2:8, 9) by His sinless shed blood, (Romans 3:25; Col. 1:14) and thus follow Him. To the glory of God.

[Falcon4.0]

There is really only one risk,
and that is that people with nefarious intentions will use it to enslave others.

[Portcall24]

If you read “Quantum Supremacy: How the Quantum Computer Revolution Will Change Everything” by Michio Kaku you’ll also learn we have a distinct possibility to make huge progress towards cures of many forms of cancer, Alzheimer, and similar diseases. Not to mention not conducting tests on animals and substantial shortening lead time for drugs.

[thinden]

Thanx for the link up