Quantum Computers are Coming: An Interview with Deloitte’s Global Quantum Computing Lead Scott Buchholz
The concepts of quantum computing may be complex, but there is an easier way to understand quantum computing. This interview proves that. Scott Buchholz is the Global Quantum Computing Lead for Deloitte. In this candid, optimistic and insightful interview, Scott talks about quantum computing in plain language and explains how to build a business model around a truly futuristic technology. Find the excerpts from his interview before it becomes part of a book in few months.
Mihir: How do you explain Quantum Computing in plain language?
Scott: Think of a quantum computer as the next generation supercomputer – a computer that can solve problems we haven’t even thought of yet. The computers we use today are really doing math very, very quickly. Everything we see and do, like using emails and video conferencing, is math running quickly under the covers. Quantum computing is different in that it’s using physics rather than math to solve problems very quickly.
Let’s picture a soap bubble to help us understand why this is possible. Every time you blow a soap bubble, it takes the shape of a sphere naturally and almost instantaneously. That’s due to physics. Essentially, the soap is most comfortable being a sphere, so it becomes one. It is not doing a bunch of math to decide that it wants to be a sphere – the laws of physics are taking over the decision making. If it had to do math to figure out the answer, bubbles would never form. Quantum computers are like soap bubbles – they use the laws of physics to arrive at solutions faster than would ever be possible using math.
The challenge is that we’ve spent decades learning to formulate problems as math problems. Now we’re trying to figure out what problems can be formulated as physics problems (and run on quantum computers), and which can’t. And how to map those problems. In a nutshell, how do we transform problems to be more like soap bubbles?
Mihir: Several countries are pursuing quantum supremacy today. Are they pursuing for the sake of competition or is there a real advantage they see to quantum computing?
Scott: The idea of being able to do things faster and better than we can today is always attractive to people who are trying to solve hard problems. The idea that you might get a time-information advantage is very compelling in several areas. Financial services and life sciences are industries that could see a massive shift in their daily operations if quantum computing takes off. Many people believe that this could be a transformational technology in many ways and lots of countries, justifiably, want to make sure that they are at the forefront of this evolution.
Mihir: What is the simplest wayto explain qubits?
Scott: If traditional computersrun on bits, quantum computers run on qubits. Bits support true/false Booleanalgebra to do math. I think it’s easy to overestimate how intuitive Booleanalgebra is to people today, because we had many decades to get accustomed tothis idea that bits exist, and they correspond to 0 and 1. Qubits are producedby physics and are harder to wrap our heads around because even though they arethe fundamental building blocks and basic units for computation in quantumcomputing, they are not particularly related to Boolean algebra.
Even though you may notunderstand what a qubit is, that doesn’t mean you won’t be able to understandwhat quantum computing is. Though most people can’t do Boolean algebra ordeeply understand the transistors that power our devices today, they still knowhow to use their smart phones, laptops and other computers. This is why Ibelieve that for most people it’s less useful to start with understandingqubits and more important to know how to build use cases. Start asking: wheredo we go to find problems that can be solved using quantum computers? How do Ifind a friend that can take that problem and convert into quantum computingprograms?
Mihir: How can one be sure thatthey are interacting with a quantum computer and not a quantum simulator on aclassical computer?
Scott: For the time being, youcan’t. There will likely come a time when it won’t be feasible to simulate aquantum computer on today’s supercomputers, and we are getting closer toreaching that point.
Mihir: Let’s talk aboutcommercialization and utility. Quantum computers are new and relatively unknownas well as expensive. When you interact with different leaders about quantumcomputers, how easy or difficult is it?
Scott: First, most organizationstoday are pursuing universal quantum computers which are gate-based machines. Theseare general-purpose hardware machines that are still fiendishly difficult tobuild, and we are a few years away from having useful quantum hardware.
Looking at different publicroadmaps for the general purpose quantum computers, we are still at least a fewyears away from developing a useful machine. However, it takes over a year tounderstand a quantum computer well enough to even formulate a question that canproduce a useful answer. That’s why if you work in an industry that may bedrastically affected by quantum computing like financial services,pharmaceuticals, chemicals, or manufacturing, it makes the most sense to beginyour quantum computing journey now.
However, there is another classof quantum machines called quantum annealers. They are simpler, but more limited,focusing on optimization. Because this is an easier problem to solve, there arequantum annealers today that get us answers better and faster than classicalcomputers for some use cases. And, for some of those use cases, thecost/benefit shows it’s worth paying to use a quantum annealer. What might someinstances be? Fraud detection is one example in financial services. If one canimprove fraud detection by even 1%, it can save billions of dollars.
Annealers can generate value today. Generalpurpose machines will generate value in the future. In the meantime,organizations have two conversations: Isthere benefit today and is it cost efficient? And how to think aboutopportunity and risk management for possible futures?
Mihir: Now, let’s talk about yourmotivation and journey into quantum computing. How did you get introduced tothe field of quantum computing? What keeps you motivated?
Scott: My father is anexperimental particle physicist, so some of these concepts I heard at thedinner table growing up. I’ve also spent most of my career around emergingtechnologies and trying to understand how they’re most useful for our clients. WhenDeloitte began thinking about quantum technologies, I was asked to take thelead because of this background. It’s been a fascinating journey. I’m not aphysicist, but I do have a broad background as a developer and experienceapplying technology to business problems. When I put those things together alongwith the right members on my team, I feel confident and motivating in givingclients the right advice.
Mihir: Being a new field, thedemand is not overwhelming for quantum computing and the technology is in itsinfancy. How do you form a business model around quantum computing to provideservices to the client?
Scott: Carefully. As you described, this is anew field that is just finding its journey and purpose. What startups like tocall product-market fit is applicable here, because we’re still trying tofigure out all the things that clients want and need. Doing that exercise forquantum computing involves knocking on people’s doors, going to a lot ofconferences and conducting interviews to make sure that people know thistechnology exists, and understanding where it might impact, and sharing thatwe’re a trusted source to get them started.
