When Quantum Computing Meets AI: Smarter Digital Assistants and More

"Today, people are frustrated when a digital assistant says, 'Sorry, I couldn't understand that,'" said Mr. Chapman, who was named CEO of the venture-capital-backed startup this week after about five years as director of engineering for Amazon.com Quantum computers "could alleviate those problems," he said. That's because quantum computers have the potential to sort through a vast number of possibilities within a fraction of a second to come up with a probable solution. A Rubik's Cube, in an analogy to illustrate the power of quantum computers, could be solved instantaneously because the technology can process different combinations at once. A classical computer, by contrast, would need to search through the possibilities sequentially, which could take days, months or even longer, IonQ executives said.