Willow is a state-of-the-art quantum chip that has achieved two major milestones. First, it can reduce errors exponentially as it scales up, a key challenge in quantum error correction. Second, it performed a standard benchmark computation in under 5 minutes that would take one of today's fastest supercomputers 10 septillion years. This accomplishment is known as "below threshold" and signifies a significant step towards building large-scale, useful quantum computers. One of the most exciting potential applications of Willow is in training AI models. As AI models continue to grow in size and complexity, they require increasingly large amounts of computational power. Quantum computers like Willow could potentially provide the necessary hardware to train these next-generation AI models. (summary provided in part by GenAI)
