10-06-2026IMPACT COUNCIL

Quantum computing is already here

We can start addressing the problems we’ve been waiting a generation to solve, building on the current foundation.

[Photo: Getty Images]

The Fast Company Impact Council is an invitation-only membership community of top leaders and experts who pay dues for access to peer learning, thought leadership, and more.

Every generation inherits problems it didn’t create, alongside tools it didn’t build. Ours are significant: diseases like cancer that we still can’t reliably cure, managing financial portfolios with countless variables in today’s financial markets, or trusting communications about our most sensitive information without having to worry whether security safeguards will hold.  

For most of my career, I’ve watched brilliant people attack these complex problems with computers that were never built for them. Classical computers are remarkable machines. They’re also a ceiling because, in spite of continued improvements, some problems still can’t be addressed as chips get faster. No amount of “faster” will ever help them catch up with the processing burdens we increasingly place on them.

That’s the real promise of quantum computing. It’s not a faster version of the computer already on your........

© Fast Company