How worried are you about the potential of quantum computing to be misused? Perhaps not that worried, given its nascent state. That said a group of prominent figures in the quantum computing, including for example John Martinis who led Google’s quantum effort and Abe Asfaw of IBM’s quantum effort, are calling for formal consideration of the ethical issues surrounding quantum computing.

The group posted a video today – Quantum Ethics, A Call to Action – that urges others in the quantum industry to begin discussing its ethical use, not unlike measures undertaken for AI. Just how impactful quantum computing will be isn’t entirely clear but expectations, broadly, are that it will drive faster, successful pursuit of new materials, new drugs, secure communication, and generally catapult computing’s speed and capacity in a number of areas.

The worries expressed by the group (listed below) are also wide ranging and include things like restricting access to the technology, breaking currently encrypted communication, weaponized uses, etc. Every new technology holds promise and threat, they argue, and while quantum computing remains largely developmental, now is the time for taking up related ethics considerations.

One of the group, Ilyas Khan, CEO and founder of Cambridge Quantum Computing, opens the video saying, “I think there’s a clear and present danger and it’s staring us right in the face.” That’s seems a bit alarmist. Still, it’s also true that a vigorous, increasingly well-funded race to achieve practical quantum computing is under way with contestants ranging from nations to commercial interests.

A short article in today’s The Wall Street Journal quotes Kahn:

“This is the equivalent of a whole new industrial revolution,” said llyas Khan, founder and chief executive of Cambridge Quantum Computing, which develops cybersecurity products, software and algorithms that companies can use when experimenting on early-stage quantum computers. That power, in the wrong hands, could also be used to create harmful materials or to manipulate the human genome in a harmful way, he said. “We ought to have those conversations today,” said Mr. Khan, who was also featured in the video.

Though it will likely take years to come up with ethical guidelines for quantum computers, Mr. Khan said he is beginning to speak with government officials in the U.K. about those ethical issues now. There may have been certain ethical controls on technologies such as social media and data privacy if conversations about ethics were had in the mid-1990s, he said. “We were asleep at the wheel,” said Mr. Khan.

The video was produced by the Quantum Daily, a media outlet covering quantum information sciences activities, and it also cites the following experts:

• Khan, CEO and founder of Cambridge Quantum Computing (“CQC”), Founding Chairman of The Stephen Hawking Foundation and Life Member of the American Mathematical Society.
• Nick Farina, Founder of EeroQ, co-founded EOC, a leading software and services corporation in higher ed. Investor in Bering Science. Former Board of Directors, Chicago Public Television.
• Faye Wattleton, Founder of EeroQ, former CEO of Planned Parenthood. Partner + Head of Corporate Governance Practice at Alvarez & Marsal, Board of Directors: Columbia University and Estée Lauder.
• Asfaw, Quantum Education Lead, IBM Quantum.
• Martinis, professor of physics at the University of California, Santa Barbara, helped lead Google’s successful effort to build a quantum computer using superconducting qubits and recently joined Silicon Quantum Computing.

Wall Street Journal account: https://www.wsj.com/articles/quantum-computing-scientists-call-for-ethical-guidelines-11612155660?mod=tech_lead_pos12

The Quantum Daily account: https://thequantumdaily.com/2021/02/01/quantum-ethics-a-call-to-action/

Link to the group’s video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5qc7gpabEhQ&feature=emb_logo