Neil Thompson

Moore's law, the observation that the number of transistors in an integrated circuit doubles about every two years, may be hitting its limit. Transistors are getting so small that experts say the laws of physics are slowing the reliable pace of progress. "During the heyday of Moore's law miniaturization gave us chips with more transistors, and it also meant that each transistor used less power," principal research scientist Neil Thompson said. "Today, miniaturization is giving us much smaller reductions in power, and so trying to cram in too many transistors produces a lot of heat and can melt a chip."

In this interview with principal research scientist Neil Thompson, he said: "Historically, when new technologies have come in and automated things, humans have moved to doing new tasks. New tasks are created that didn't exist before but are actually important for employment. We really don't know what those new tasks are going to be ahead of time. But historically, there's been a remarkable wellspring of new tasks and new jobs that have emerged."

A comprehensive survey of quantum algorithms and potential deep learning applications, by principal research scientist Neil Thompson and co-authors, reveals that, despite theoretical gains in areas like matrix multiplication, current quantum hardware struggles to outperform classical computers on realistically sized problems.

Principal research scientist Neil Thompson said: "The trick for reporters over the coming years will be how to harness the positive productivity-improving aspects of AI while keeping the bedrock of trust intact."