(Sifted.eu) Alexa can tell you the weather, turn on your lights and even tell you a joke. But if you really want to have a meaningful conversation with a computer, it is probably going to have to be a quantum computer.
Cambridge Quantum Computing (CQC), the 2014-founded startup, says it has built “meaning-aware” natural language processing on a quantum computer. The system understands both grammatical structure and the meaning of words, in a way that classical computers cannot.
“This is quantum native, it cannot be done with a classical computer with a reasonable amount for resources,” says Ilyas Khan, chief executive and founder of CQC, in an interview with Sifted. “Limited uses could begin within three years. For more widespread use, like talking to Alexa or Siri, we will have to wait for an increase in the capacity of quantum computers.”
This is because, according to Kahn, classic computers simply don’t have enough processing power to be able to both understand the rules of grammar and recognise word patterns.
The exponentially-larger quantum state means natural language processing on a quantum computer can code complex linguistic structures and novel models of meaning in quantum circuits.