Lifeboat Foundation

Companies and research labs across the globe are working towards getting their nascent quantum technologies out of the lab and into the real world, with the US technology giant IBM being a key player. In May this year, IBM Quantum unveiled its latest roadmap for the future of quantum computing in the coming decade, and the firm has set some ambitious targets. Having announced its Eagle processor with 127 quantum bits (qubits) last year, the company is now developing the 433-qubit Osprey processor for a debut later this year, to be followed in 2023 by the 1121-qubit Condor.

But beyond that, the company says, the game will switch to assembling such processors into modular circuits, in which the chips are wired together via sparser quantum or classical interconnections. That effort will culminate in what they refer to as their 4158-qubit Kookaburra device in 2025. Beyond then, IBM forecasts modular processors with 100,000 or more qubits, capable of computing without the errors that currently make quantum computing a matter of finding workarounds for the noisiness of the qubits. With this approach, the company’s quantum computing team is confident that it can achieve a general “quantum advantage”, where quantum computers will consistently outperform classical computers and conduct complex computations beyond the means of classical devices.

While he was in London on his way to the 28 th Solvay conference in Brussels, which tackled quantum information, Physics World caught up with physicist Jay Gambetta, vice-president of IBM Quantum. Having spearheaded much of the company’s advances over the past two decades, Gambetta explained how these goals might be reached and what they will entail for the future of quantum computing.

The laser was developed under the Pentagon’s High Energy Laser Scaling Initiative (HELSI), which is an effort by the department to strengthen the directed energy industrial base and improve the quality of laser beams, as per Breaking Defense.

AI at the Edge, NAD-Enhancing Drugs, and Laser Beam Toting Sharks!! — Discovering, Enabling & Transitioning Technology For Special Operations Forces — Lisa R. Sanders, Director of Science and Technology for Special Operations Forces, USSOCOM.

Lisa R. Sanders is the Director of Science and Technology for Special Operations Forces, Acquisition, Technology & Logistics (SOF AT&L), U.S. Special Operations Command (USSOCOM — https://www.socom.mil/), located at MacDill Air Force Base, Florida, where she is responsible for all research and development funded activities — https://www.socom.mil/SOF-ATL/Pages/eSOF_cap_of_interest.aspx.

Continue reading “Lisa R. Sanders — Director of Science and Technology, SOF AT&L, U.S. Special Operations Command” »

Were you unable to attend Transform 2022? Check out all of the summit sessions in our on-demand library now! Watch here.

There is a quiet yet fierce battle being fought by technology heavyweights. They want to consolidate the exponentially increasing RPA (robotic process automation) market and the sizable investments users are making, which continue to grow. According to recent research, organizations on average spend $480,000 on RPA annually, with those in the highest tier spending well over $1 million on automation every year.

With a market of that size and all indications being that automation will only get bigger, it’s no wonder the likes of Microsoft have entered the fray to duke it out with perennial leaders Automation Anywhere, UiPath and Blue Prism, raising the question: Who will come out on top?

Optimizing Human-System Performance — Dr. Greg Lieberman, Ph.D., Neuroscientist / Lead, U.S. Army Combat Capabilities Development Command Army Research Laboratory, U.S. Army Futures Command

Dr. Greg Lieberman, Ph.D. (https://www.arl.army.mil/arl25/meet-arl.php?gregory_lieberman) is a Neuroscientist, and Lead, Optimizing Human-System Performance, at the U.S. Army Combat Capabilities Development Command, Army Research Laboratory (DEVCOM ARL).

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It could support non-combat activities such as humanitarian relief operations and medical missions.

Commercial space company Sierra Space, which is developing the shuttle-shaped Dream Chaser spacecraft for transportation solutions, has signed an agreement with the U.S. Department of Defense (DOD) transportation command for point-to-point global terrestrial delivery of military materiel and personnel.

Both organizations will develop solutions using the Dream Chaser spaceplanes, Shooting Star cargo modules, and on-orbit infrastructure that provides unique capabilities for precise, cost-effective, and timely global delivery of Department of Defense logistics and personnel through space.

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A grim future awaits the United States if it loses the competition with China on developing key technologies like artificial intelligence in the near future, the authors of a special government-backed study told reporters on Monday.

If China wins the technological competition, it can use its advancements in artificial intelligence and biological technology to enhance its own country’s economy, military and society to the determent of others, said Bob Work, former deputy defense secretary and co-chair of the Special Competitive Studies Project, which examined international artificial intelligence and technological competition. Work is the chair of the U.S. Naval Institute Board of Directors.

Continue reading “Losing to China in AI, Emerging Tech Will Cost U.S. Trillions, Threaten Security, Says Panel” »

Microsoft’s augmented reality headset the HoloLens has been in the works for years now, but it’s been a while since we’ve heard any news. We were seeing demos of it way back in 2015 (opens in new tab), but Microsoft has been pretty quiet on the tech in recent years when it comes to a consumer release.

What we’ve heard tons about is Microsoft’s deal to supply the United States Army with HoloLens tech. We first got wind of the deal back in 2018 (opens in new tab) with talks of a $480 million contract to help “increase lethality” of combat missions. It wasn’t until 2021 that Microsoft officially signed a much pricier $22 billion dollar contract (opens in new tab) with the army for military grade HoloLens supply.

THE artificial intelligence revolution has only just begun, but there have already been numerous unsettling developments.

AI programs can be used to act on humans’ worst instincts or achieve humans’ more wicked goals, like creating weapons or terrifying its creators with a lack of morality.

Artificial intelligence is a catch-all phrase for a computer program designed to simulate, mimic or copy human thinking processes.