The Wind of Change is in the Willow – Google’s new AI chip

Google Quantum AI’s new chip promises error correction and performance that paves the way to a useful, large-scale quantum computer

• 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 UniverseGoogle

The Willow chip is a major step on a journey that began over 10 years ago. The vision was to build a useful, large-scale quantum computer that could harness quantum mechanics — the “operating system” of nature to the extent we know it today — to benefit society by advancing scientific discovery, developing helpful applications, and tackling some of society’s greatest challenges. As part of Google Research, the team has charted a long-term roadmap, and Willow moves us significantly along that path towards commercially relevant applications.