Quantum computers able to learn could attack larger sets of data than classical computers.

Quantum computers able to learn
could attack larger sets of data
than classical computers.
Devin Powell
26 July 2013
Programs running on future quantum
computers could dramatically speed
up complex tasks such as face
recognition.
Quantum computers of the future
will have the potential to give
artificial intelligence a major boost, a
series of studies suggests.
These computers, which encode
information in 'fuzzy' quantum states
that can be zero and one
simultaneously, have the ability to
someday solve problems, such as
breaking encryption keys, that are
beyond the reach of 'classical'
computers.
Algorithms developed so far for
quantum computers have typically
focused on problems such as
breaking encryption keys or searching
a list — tasks that normally require
speed but not a lot of intelligence.
But in a series of papers posted
online this month on the arXiv
preprint server 1 , 2 , 3 , Seth Lloyd of
the Massachusetts Institute of
Technology in Cambridge and his
collaborators have put a quantum
twist on AI.
The team developed a quantum
version of 'machine learning', a type
of AI in which programs can learn
from previous experience to become
progressively better at finding
patterns in data. Machine learning is
popular in applications ranging from
e-mail spam filters to online-
shopping suggestions. The team's
invention would take advantage of
quantum computations to speed up
machine-learning tasks exponentially.