World Economic Forum releases first quantum computing Guide
With the increase of industry investment, the World Economic Forum (WEF) released the first quantum computing guide on January 19, 2022. WEF said that governments have invested more than $25 billion in quantum computing research and completed more than $1 billion in venture capital transactions in the past year - more than the total of the past three years. Quantum computing brings opportunities and challenges different from other computing technologies, which requires a multidisciplinary global dialogue to guide its development and use, so as to benefit mankind.
WEF released an insight report called quantum computing governance principles, which aims to help the public and private sectors solve ethical, social and legal problems before the commercialization of quantum computing. These principles are jointly designed by quantum experts, emerging technology ethics and legal experts, decision makers, social scientists and scholars.
The report mentioned that while quantum computing technology is still developing, we have launched a dialogue on the responsible development and use of quantum computing technology to build trust in the technology and prevent possible risks. Instead of waiting for it to be commercialized and then trying to catch up with the level of governance.
The next step in the quantum computing governance plan will be to work with a wider group of stakeholders to make these principles part of a broader governance framework and policy approach. With this framework, the business and investment community, as well as policymakers and academia, will better adapt to the upcoming paradigm shift. Ultimately, everyone will be better prepared to take advantage of the transformative power of quantum science.
Challenges brought by quantum technology
Like every new technology, especially the transformative technology such as quantum computing, new socio-economic, political and ethical challenges also appear. With the further development of technology and as we find wider applications, the possibility of ethical and governance challenges related to the use and deployment of such technologies increases. These challenges are interrelated.
First, quantum computing is a new technology. Therefore, its exact meaning is unclear, but it is widely expected that this technology may have a significant impact on society. As quantum computing introduces a new computing paradigm, the existing knowledge about the opportunities and risks of new technologies and the necessary understanding to adjudicate between them will not be enough in many cases, or at least need to reassess how to manage these opportunities and risks.
Second, since quantum computing is not used alone, but combined with classical computing technology, the problems already faced in today's classical computing may be amplified by the use of quantum methods.
Third, quantum computing is one of the technologies that require a lot of resource investment. It brings about the acquisition and distribution of equity, benefits and risks, especially for countries and stakeholder groups with insufficient resources.
Therefore, ensuring the coherent, efficient and beneficial use of quantum computing requires critical reflection and inclusive discussions with stakeholders from technical experts to industrial, political and social leadership. The principles outlined in this document and are the result of such preliminary discussions.
In the governance principles of quantum computing, the report makes the following technical assumptions:
A. It will be possible to build a fully programmable universal fault-tolerant quantum computer.
B. Quantum computing will make the calculation of some specific problems more efficient and / or accurate (such as optimization problems).
C. Quantum computing will accelerate computing and solve problems that are currently considered difficult to solve by classical machines (for example, cracking the currently deployed public key encryption scheme, etc.).
So far, the most advanced quantum computing technology uses about 100 (non ideal) qubits, which is much lower than the performance required to run complex algorithms such as shor algorithm. In addition, the error correction method will require a large quantum bit overhead.
Applicable groups of quantum computing governance principles
The world economic forum quantum computing governance principles are designed to apply to a wide range of quantum stakeholders, including governments, research institutions and universities, international organizations, companies and private entities using the technology, companies and private entities developing the technology, developers (individuals) and consumers (individuals).
——Government: government and government agencies are the main stakeholders of any quantum governance scheme. In addition to legislative capacity, governments play a leading role in setting economic, innovation, science and national security policy agendas that shape the quantum development ecosystem. The government has been and will continue to be the main source of funding for theoretical and applied quantum science, both directly (through institutions) and indirectly (through university funding).
——Research institutions and Universities: like many technological innovations, quantum computing technology mainly comes from theoretical and applied research in academia and universities. The university has the largest number of practical quantum researchers, laboratories and research projects. Maintaining the strength of public higher education institutions in the field of quantum science and the resulting public interests is the key to any governance mechanism. Universities can effectively adopt and adapt the forum's quantum computing governance principles in their research groups, teaching courses and research projects.
——International organizations: the globalization of quantum research projects and quantum technology development means that public and private multilateral institutions can play an important role in encouraging a consistent approach to quantum governance around the world. Stakeholders in these multilateral institutions can benefit from the forum's quantum computing governance principles when conducting formal procedures such as treaties, conventions and agreements.
——Companies and private entities using this technology: quantum computing is likely to be a revolutionary technology in many business areas. WEF quantum computing governance principles will guide enterprises to use this technology. Because of these principles, the company will make additional profits from an active and growing quantum computing ecosystem.
——Companies and private entities developing this technology: private companies and listed companies have always played an important role in the development and commercialization of emerging technologies. Established and newly established quantum enterprises can benefit from WEF quantum computing governance principles, including their strategic choices, what applications to develop, how to develop it, ways to provide technology, and the degree of transparency of their activities to regulators and the wider public.
——Developers (individuals): developers are critical in harnessing the potential transformative power of quantum computing. WEF quantum computing governance principles will help shape a healthy quantum computing ecosystem, enabling people to access education and technology to build the required team of developers. In addition, developers who consider these principles can benefit at different levels, such as considering how to build applications and how to make applications easy to access and transparent.
——Consumers (individuals): individuals may contact quantum computing directly or indirectly through a third party. WEF quantum computing governance principles will help raise awareness of the technology and inspire wider public understanding of the guiding principles applicable to the development of the technology.
Seven principles and nine themes
As shown in the figure below, the governance principles are divided into 9 themes and supported by 7 core values. Within each theme, objectives, opportunities and risks are identified, which provide the basis for the formulation of principles and corresponding actions.
Quantum computing governance framework
The core values are as follows:
——Common interests: take advantage of the transformative capabilities of quantum computing and its applications to ensure that they will be used for the benefit of mankind.
——Accountability: in any case, the use of quantum computing has mechanisms to ensure human accountability, whether in design, use and results. It is the responsibility of all stakeholders in the field of quantum computing to ensure that intentional misuse of quantum computing for harmful purposes is not accepted or inadvertently positively recognized.
——Inclusiveness: in the development of quantum computing, where possible, the broad and diverse views of stakeholders will participate in meaningful dialogue to avoid narrow definitions of the use of technologies that may be considered harmful or beneficial.
——Fairness: the developers and users of quantum computing ensure the fairness of technology in design, and ensure the fair and uniform distribution of technologies based on quantum computing as far as possible. Take special account of any specific needs of vulnerable populations to ensure equity.
——Non malicious: all stakeholders use quantum computing in a safe, ethical and responsible manner. In addition, all stakeholders should ensure that quantum computing does not put humans at risk of harm, whether expected or unexpected use results, and that it will not be used for evil purposes.
——Accessibility: actively promote the popularization of quantum computing technology and knowledge, including the development, deployment and use of technology. The purpose is to cultivate the general ability among the public, social participants, enterprises and governments to understand the main principles of quantum computing, which is different from the way of classical computing and its potential.
——Transparency: the aims and intentions of users, developers and regulators in quantum computing are transparent.
The topics defining quantum computing governance principles are as follows:
1. Transformative capabilities: use the transformative capabilities of such technologies and applications for the benefit of mankind while properly managing risks.
2. Access to hardware infrastructure: ensure extensive access to quantum computing hardware.
3. Open innovation: encourage the environment before cooperation and competition, and accelerate the realization of technology development and application.
4. Awareness raising: ensure the awareness, participation and full understanding of the public and quantum computing stakeholders for responsible dialogue and communication; Stakeholders with supervision and power should be able to make informed decisions on quantum computing in their respective fields.
5. Workforce development and capacity-building: build and maintain a quantum ready workforce.
6. Network security: ensure the transition to a quantum secure digital world.
7. Privacy: reduce potential data privacy violations through the theft and processing of quantum computers.
8. Standardization: promote standards and road map mechanisms and accelerate technological development.
9. Sustainability: develop a sustainable future with quantum computing technology.
Governance principles of quantum computing: theme and core values
Full text of the report:https://www3.weforum.org/docs/WEF_Quantum_Computing_2022.pdf
