Google, NASA sign 7-year deal to test D-Wave quantum computers as artificial brains

D-Wave Systems said Monday that the company has signed a seven-year deal with Google, NASA, and the Universities Space Research Association to supply D-Wave's quantum computers as part of an ongoing investigation to see whether they could be used as the next artificial intelligence platform. Installation of a new D-Wave 2X system was recently completed, the companies said. The system, now operational, includes a 1000 qubit quantum processor. "At 1000 qubits, the D-Wave 2X quantum processor evaluates all 21000 possible solutions simultaneously as it converges on optimal or near optimal solutions, more possibilities than there are particles in the observable universe," the company claims. Quantum computers will use qubits, or quantum bits, which rely on laws of quantum mechanics to achieve various states.