India Nears Its Quantum Moment — Completion Of First Quantum Computer Expected Soon
Despite the progress, significant scientific challenges remain. Qubits are
inherently unstable and susceptible to disturbances, leading to ‘decoherence’.
Researchers worldwide are striving to overcome this through error-corrected
qubits. “You have to show that by using such a system, you are actually solving
some problem which is of relevance to industry or science or society and show
that it is better, faster and cheaper,” Dr. Vijayaraghavan told India Today.
“That of course will be the first holy grail of useful quantum computers. We are
not there yet.” In Bengaluru, startup QpiAI is also venturing into quantum
computing. Led by CEO and chairman Dr. Nagendra Nagaraja, the company is
constructing a 25-qubit quantum computer, with plans to unveil it by the end of
the year, according to the news service. With $6 million in funding, QpiAI
intends to offer the platform to customers via cloud services and supply systems
to top institutes and research groups across India. “Our vision is to integrate
AI and quantum computing in enterprises,” Dr. Nagaraja told India Today
How Seeing Is Believing With Your Leadership Abilities
One of the standout points in my discussion with Cherches was his approach to
communicating complex ideas across different functions within an organization.
He stresses the importance of translating concepts into the "language" of the
audience. Whether through analogies, stories, or visual diagrams, the goal is to
make the abstract tangible. Cherches illustrates this by introducing an example.
"We need to communicate in the language of our stakeholders. For example, I
teach in the HR master's program at NYU, and I always emphasize that if you need
funding for an HR initiative, you have to translate that into the language of
money for the CFO. It's about finding the right visual and verbal tools to
resonate with different audiences." This is where visual leadership
shines—bridging gaps between different departments and creating a common
language everyone can understand. In today's business environment, where
cross-functional and asynchronous collaboration is critical, leaders who can
translate their vision into visual terms are more likely to gain buy-in and
drive initiatives forward.
5 things I wish I knew as a CFO before starting a digital transformation
One of our biggest missteps was not thoroughly defining what we intended to
achieve from different perspectives — IT, employees, customers and the
executive team. We knew having to use something new would have pain points,
but we didn’t understand the impact of going from a customized environment to
a more standard platform. The business didn’t understand the advantages either
— their work might be slightly less efficient or different, but the processes
would now be scalable, more stable and completely standardized across the
different business units. ... In hindsight, we greatly underestimated the
effort to cleanse and prepare our data for migration. Now that the project is
well on its way, I always hear about the importance of data cleansing and
preparation. But I never heard it from anyone upfront. We could have spent a
year restructuring data hierarchies to align with the new system before even
starting implementation. ... Not every part of the project will be a success
or an upgrade. But there will be incredible success stories, efficiencies, new
capabilities or insights. Often, they’re unexpected, like the impact that
pricing changes had on our business, even though they weren’t in our original
scope.
Linus Torvalds talks AI, Rust adoption, and why the Linux kernel is 'the only thing that matters'
Torvalds said, "There is some stability with old kernels, and we do backport
for patches and fixes to them, but some fixes get missed because people don't
think they're important enough, and then it turns out they were important
enough." Besides, if you stick with an old kernel for too long when you
finally need to update to a newer one, it can be a massive pain to do so. So,
"to all the Chinese embedded Linux vendors who are still using the Linux 4.9
kernel," Torvalds said, wagging his finger, "Stop." In addition, Hohndel said
that when patching truly ancient kernels, the Linux kernel team can only say,
"Sorry, we can't help you with that. It was so long ago that we don't even
remember how to fix it." Switching to a more modern topic, the introduction of
the Rust language into Linux, Torvalds is disappointed that its adoption isn't
going faster. "I was expecting updates to be faster, but part of the problem
is that old-time kernel developers are used to C and don't know Rust. They're
not exactly excited about having to learn a new language that is, in some
respects, very different. So there's been some pushback on Rust."
EU AI Act Tightens Grip on High-Risk AI Systems: Five Critical Questions for U.S. Companies
the EU AI Act applies to U.S. companies across the entire AI value chain that
develop, use, import, or distribute AI Systems in the EU market. Further, a
U.S. company is subject to the EU AI Act where it operates AI Systems that
produce output used in the EU market. In other words, even if a U.S. company
develops or uses a “High-Risk” AI System for job screening or online
proctoring purposes, the EU AI Act still governs if outputs produced by such
AI System are used in the EU for recruiting or admissions purposes. In another
use case, if a U.S. auto OEM incorporates an AI system to support self-driving
functionalities and distributes the vehicle under its own brand in the EU,
such OEM is subject to the EU AI Act. ... In addition, for those AI systems
classified as “High-Risk” under the “Specific Use Cases” in Annex III, they
must also complete a conformity assessment to certify that such AI systems
comply with the EU AI Act. Where AI Systems are themselves “Regulated
Productsor related safety components,” the EU AI Act seeks to harmonize and
streamline the processes to reduce market entrance costs and
timelines.
ServiceOps: Balancing Speed and Risk in DevOps
The integration between ITSM and AIOps tools automates identification of risky
changes by analyzing risk information from the service history and operational
data in a single pane of glass. AI models correlate past changes and determine
their impact on operational variables such as service availability and health.
This information decreases time spent on change requests by helping teams
quickly understand the risk factors and the scope of impact by using powerful
service dependency maps from AIOps tools. This AI-driven assessment also
provides great feedback to DevOps and SRE teams, enabling them to deploy
faster and with greater confidence. ... A conversational interface for change
risk assessment can make risk insights understandable and actionable for teams
tasked with delivering high-quality software rapidly. Imagine giving teams
tasked with approving software changes access to a chat-based interface for
asking questions and getting answers tailored to the specific environments
where their software will be deployed. They could get answers to questions
like, “What are the risky changes?” and “Can I look at change collisions?” The
pace of change driven by DevOps presents significant challenges to IT service
and IT operations teams. Both need to accelerate change without risking
downtime.
AI Assistants: Picking the Right Copilot
Not all assistants are meant for tech professionals. Others with a focus on
consumer benefits are emerging. ... A good AI assistant should offer a
responsive chat feature to indicate its understanding of its environment.
Jupyter, Tabnine, and Copilot all offer a native chat UI for the user. The
chat experience influences how well a professional feels the AI assistant is
working. How well it interprets prompts and how accurate the suggestions are
all start with the conversational assistant experience, so technical
professionals should note their experiences to see which assistant works best
for their projects. Professionals should also consider the frequency of the
work in which the AI assistant is being applied. The frequency can indicate
the degree of value being created — more frequency gives an AI assistant an
opportunity to learn user preferences and past account history, which plays
into its recommendations. The result is better productivity with AI, learning
quickly where to best explore and experiment with crafting applications.
Considering solution frequency can also reveal the cost of the technology
against the value received.
Researchers propose a smaller, more noise-tolerant quantum factoring circuit for cryptography
The MIT researchers found a clever way to compute exponents using a series of
Fibonacci numbers that requires simple multiplication, which is reversible,
rather than squaring. Their method needs just two quantum memory units to
compute any exponent. "It is kind of like a ping-pong game, where we start
with a number and then bounce back and forth, multiplying between two quantum
memory registers," Vaikuntanathan adds. They also tackled the challenge of
error correction. The circuits proposed by Shor and Regev require every
quantum operation to be correct for their algorithm to work, Vaikuntanathan
says. But error-free quantum gates would be infeasible on a real machine. They
overcame this problem using a technique to filter out corrupt results and only
process the right ones. The end-result is a circuit that is significantly more
memory-efficient. Plus, their error correction technique would make the
algorithm more practical to deploy. "The authors resolve the two most
important bottlenecks in the earlier quantum factoring algorithm. Although
still not immediately practical, their work brings quantum factoring
algorithms closer to reality," adds Regev.
Power of communication in leadership transition
When change is on the horizon, the worst thing a leader can do is ignore or
suppress employees' natural reactions. Uncertainty leads to rumours and
speculation. Instead, leaders should create an environment of open
communication, where teams feel comfortable voicing their concerns, asking
questions, and sharing their thoughts on the new leader’s vision and the
upcoming changes. Being honest and transparent is key to building trust. Open
communication can help ease fears, address worries, and empower employees to
embrace changes and contribute to the organisation’s success. It’s important
to clearly explain what is happening, why it’s happening, and how it may
affect different roles. Avoiding the temptation to sugar-coat negative news is
also crucial. Listening is just as important as speaking. Leaders should avoid
getting defensive or dismissive when employees share their concerns. ... To
effectively reassure employees, leaders need to understand the root causes of
their anxiety. Whether concerns are about job security, changes in
responsibilities, or shifts in the company’s culture, employees need to know
that their concerns are being heard and taken seriously.
What are the most in-demand skills in tech right now?
Martyn said that while there are many approaches to gain new skills, she
advises learners to understand the areas where they have a natural aptitude
and explore their preferred learning style. “With the right attitude and an
understanding of their natural aptitude, I recommend reaching out for support
to a leader or coach to support in the creation of a formal learning and
development plan starting with some small learning objectives and building
over time,” she said. “The technical, business and cognitive skills required
for success will evolve over time but putting the right routines in place to
consistently retrospect on your skill level, generate new ideas, identify
opportunities for learning and execute a learning plan is a fundamental skill
that will support continuous growth in the long term.” Pareek said that
mastery of digital technologies such as AI and data analytics is becoming
increasingly important both in specialist roles and more generally, so
adaptability and resilience is key. “Building a robust professional network
and engaging in collaboration can unlock new opportunities, while mentorship
provides valuable guidance. ...”
Quote for the day:
"One of the sad truths about
leadership is that, the higher up the ladder you travel, the less you know."
-- Margaret Heffernan
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