Quantum Computing Needs You to Help Solve Its Core Mystery

Published: Dec. 12, 2018, 4:49 p.m.

Since 2016, IBM has offered online access to a quantum computer. Anyone can log in and execute commands on a 5-qubit or 14-qubit machine located in Yorktown Heights, New York, from the comfort of their own home. This month, I finally tried it\u2014nervously. I did not know what I was doing and worried I might break the hardware. \u201cYou won\u2019t mess anything up,\u201d IBM physicist James Wootton assured me via Skype. Courtesy of Sophia ChenI chose the 5-qubit machine.