The race to achieve the first truly functional quantum computer is at a crucial moment. IBM has revamped its roadmap and is betting everything on this goal, promising that by 2029 it will have a fault-tolerant quantum processor, a milestone that the scientific community considers essential to overcome the current limitations of quantum computing. If this forecast comes true, the advancement will not come from a new generation of artificial intelligence, but from hardware capable of exponentially multiplying current computing capacity. This leap would mark a turning point in both computing and society. For over twenty years, quantum computing has been trapped in a paradox: its potential is immense, but the instability of qubits prevents prolonged calculations. Current systems operate in the NISQ (Noisy Intermediate-Scale Quantum) regime, where noise limits the depth of circuits and, therefore, practical utility. Today, quantum devices can perform between 1,000 and 10,000 reliable operations before accumulated errors invalidate the results. IBM claims that its goal for 2029 is to reach 100 million coherent operations, a leap that would allow for the execution of complete error correction algorithms, according to estimates from experts like John Preskill (Caltech), Wim van Dam (UC Santa Barbara), and Austin Fowler (Google Quantum AI). This progress is supported by the maturity of surface code, a technique proposed by Kitaev in 1997 and validated in various laboratories, which groups physical qubits into logical qubits that are much more resistant to external disturbances. Jay Gambetta, IBM's vice president of quantum computing, told MIT Technology Review: "The industry must demonstrate that error correction can scale. Without that, quantum computing will remain just an experiment." Meanwhile, Dario Gil, vice president of IBM Research, warned in the Financial Times that the quantum revolution must learn from the mistakes of the AI revolution, such as opacity, concentration of power, dependence on private infrastructures, and lack of assessment of social impact. Thus, the success of this new technological revolution will depend on the responsibility and vision of the companies themselves. Source: lavanguardia.com