On this week's episode of Yahoo Finance Future Focus, our host Brian McGleenon speaks with Dr. Alessandro Curioni, Director of IBM Research at Zurich, about the transformative and potentially perilous future of quantum computing. Highlighting their unparalleled computational power, Curioni explains how quantum computers use subatomic particles to perform calculations at unprecedented speeds. However, he warns that these advancements could soon enable quantum computers to breach the encryption systems safeguarding critical infrastructure, financial markets, and personal bank accounts. "As a result of the development of quantum computing, all our sensitive data will be exposed," Curioni states. He outlines the potential risks to healthcare, financial data, and even digital contract signatures. Despite an uncertain timeline, Curioni asserts that by the end of the decade, quantum computers will likely be able to break current cryptographic technologies. This critical moment, referred to as "Q-Day," signifies when quantum computers can crack cryptographic keys, posing profound risks to personal banking information, financial systems, and national security. Curioni also discusses the global race to develop the first powerful quantum computer, with the United States and China leading the charge due to their significant investments.
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00:00Today on Yahoo Finance Future Focus, we are joined by Director of the IBM Research Lab
00:09in Zurich, Alessandro Curioni, to discuss quantum computing.
00:13Thank you and welcome to everybody.
00:15Now, Alessandro, quantum computing seems to have been stuck in this perpetual development
00:21stage.
00:22Well, that's my feeling anyway.
00:23Now, will it ever have its chat GPT moment?
00:25And if so, what commercial applications are there for this technology?
00:29Quantum computing is one of the two major transformation and technology in computing
00:36that we are going to have in this decade.
00:39The other being, you know, the new AI.
00:41Think about, for example, simulating nature, right?
00:45It means that you can do a better material design to do better drug discovery, understand
00:51how matters interact with other matters, okay?
00:54So new therapeutics, a new way to cure diseases that today are very difficult.
01:00Another field of application, global optimization, complex optimization problems.
01:05Quantum computers are going to make this type of optimization easier.
01:10And you know where this is important.
01:12Optimization in logistic, optimization in finance, optimization where you have to take
01:17any difficult decision that require, you know, to optimize a different degree of freedom.
01:25And the third one that, in my opinion, is going to be the most exciting, it's connected
01:31to machine learning.
01:32The stronger and broader impact, in my opinion, is going to come exactly from the synergy
01:40between AI and quantum.
01:43What kind of risks could quantum computing bring to global finance?
01:47Quantum computers are going to be able to create this cryptography.
01:52And as a result of this, all our sensitive data will be exposed, health care data, financial
01:58data, even the digital signatures of our contracts could be forged, okay?
02:04When this is going to happen, we don't know, but we know that when we will have quantum
02:11computers powerful enough, this is going to happen.
02:14What effect would this have on blockchain technology?
02:17Could it potentially make blockchain technology obsolete?
02:20What quantum computers is going to be able to attack is the crypto technology that we
02:26use today, okay?
02:28In the meantime, while we were developing quantum computers, we have also studied alternative
02:37algorithms, crypto algorithm, that we call it quantum safe, that cannot be attacked by
02:44quantum computers.
02:45We know the maturity of the machines that we create, we test and we put on the cloud.
02:50And we do know that this machine, probably before the end of this decade, will be powerful
02:58enough to break the standard crypto technology that is used today.
03:05What is Q Day?
03:07Is it going to be a threat to global finance?
03:10Could you just explain Q Day, please?
03:13People and the community is speaking about a Q Day, you know, a day where from that day
03:21on, we will have a quantum machine that are able to break the cryptographic key.
03:26I will say that we will have more than one Q Days.
03:30And we will have more and a different profile of risk for different institutions.
03:37When we will have, you know, the first machine, very probably is going to be one machine created
03:43by one institution, okay?
03:45We will not have thousands of machines.
03:48So probably this one machine is not going to attack my bank account or the financial
03:54systems, but you know, we'll have other type of uses, right?
03:58Where do you think that one machine is going to come from?
04:01Is Europe and America going to produce that or could it be produced in China?
04:07It could be produced in every country that invested enough in quantum.
04:13Is there a funding gap, do you think, between the USA and China at this moment in time?
04:17The thing that I can say objectively, and you know, this is information that you can
04:20find is publicly available.
04:23There has been in the last couple of months, a report from the U.S. National Science Foundation
04:32is a report that states, you know, the amount of investment in R&D worldwide.
04:41And if you look at this report, and you look from 2000 to 2023, you see two lines that
04:49are going exponential in investment.
04:51And the two lines are United States and China.
04:56I do believe that with this information, you know, I don't have to infer more.
05:02So there is where most of the developments are happening.
05:06Alessandro, thank you very much for coming on this week's episode of Yahoo Finance Future
05:10Focus.
05:11Thank you very much and talk to you soon.