AI is hungry, quantum is the next meal

As leaders scramble to understand artificial intelligence, a deeper revolution in computing power is already being prepared in labs and data centres.

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I write about various issues of interest to me that I want to bring to the reader’s attention. While my main work is in Artificial Intelligence and technology, I also cover areas around politics, education, and the future of our children.

Over the past two years, I have spent much of my time helping organisations make sense of “normal” AI: tools like ChatGPT, Copilot and the algorithms behind our feeds. Many decision-makers are only just catching up with this wave. They sense that AI is powerful, but are still unclear about what it really is, what it can do, and crucially, what it needs in order to function.

Modern AI is ravenous for computing power. It was built on a quiet revolution in chips, data centres and energy. And while we are still digesting that change, a new kind of computing – quantum – is being prepared in the background. Tech leaders like Google’s Sundar Pichai now openly describe quantum as “the next big tech shift after AI”, roughly where AI was five years ago.

CONTEXT AND BACKGROUND

Today’s frontier AI models run on vast farms of specialised hardware: graphics processing units, custom accelerator chips and huge cloud facilities. Training a single state-of-the-art model can cost hundreds of millions in compute and electricity, which is one reason the current AI boom has amplified the power of a handful of technology giants who own the biggest clouds and the most advanced chips. AI is not just clever code; it is a story of industrial-scale infrastructure.

Quantum computing sits a level below this. It is not a new app on your phone; it is a different way of building computers themselves. Instead of bits that are either 0 or 1, quantum machines use qubits that can be in multiple states at once. In theory, this allows certain kinds of problems – especially complex optimisation and simulation – to be tackled far more efficiently than any classical machine could manage. In practice, quantum computers are still mostly in research labs and the back rooms of big tech companies.

Yet progress is real. In recent months, scientists at Caltech demonstrated a 6 100-qubit neutral-atom system that operates at room temperature, smashing previous records and hinting at more practical quantum hardware. IBM, meanwhile, has shown that a key quantum error-correction algorithm can run in real time on conventional AMD chips, moving one of the biggest technical obstacles – fragile, error-prone qubits – a little closer to being manageable.

INSIGHT AND ANALYSIS

Why does this matter for people who are still getting their heads around AI? Because AI’s power and limits are tightly linked to the hardware underneath it. The models that impress us today are, in a sense, constrained by classical computing: by how fast we can process data, how large a model we can train, how much energy and money we can throw at the problem. If quantum computing matures, it may give AI systems a new “meal” of raw and specialised compute. That could mean faster training, deeper simulations and new kinds of algorithms for fields like finance, logistics, drug discovery, climate modelling and materials science.

We should not imagine that quantum will replace classical computing or suddenly put a supercomputer in every household. More likely, it will sit behind the scenes in data centres, accessed through cloud platforms. A small number of firms and states will own the serious machines; everyone else will rent capacity. That is where this story connects to our concerns about digital oligarchy and the Global South. If the same players who already dominate AI and cloud also control quantum hardware, the gap between “compute rich” and “compute poor” countries may widen even further.

At the same time, it is encouraging to see early efforts here at home: South Africa has launched a Centre for Quantum Computing and Technology at the University of KwaZulu-Natal as part of the South African Quantum Technologies Initiative, signalling a desire not to be left entirely on the sidelines.

For readers who want an accessible introduction, I often recommend Michio Kaku’s book “Quantum Supremacy: How the Quantum Computer Revolution Will Change Everything”. It explains, without equations, why quantum computing is both exciting and unsettling: a tool that could help us design better medicines and batteries, but also break much of today’s encryption and reshape the balance of economic power.

IMPLICATIONS

For South African and African leaders, the key message is not to panic about quantum, but not to ignore it either. In the short term, the practical priorities remain the same: get your data in order, adopt AI responsibly, and build basic digital and analytical skills across your organisation. Those are the foundations that will matter regardless of what happens in quantum labs.

At the same time, boards and policymakers should begin asking simple questions: which of our industries depend on hard optimisation and simulation problems, and how might they change if quantum tools become commercially useful in ten or twenty years? Where are we exposed if today’s encryption standards are eventually broken?

We should also take digital sovereignty seriously. Suppose we sleepwalk into the quantum era as passive consumers. In that case, we will find ourselves renting critical computing power from a handful of foreign providers on their terms, just as our data already flows outward into platforms we do not control. Even modest investments in local research, regional cooperation, skills development and post-quantum security standards can help ensure we are not locked into permanent dependence.

CLOSING TAKEAWAY

AI has already shown us what happens when a powerful technology arrives faster than our understanding and our institutions. It disrupts jobs, reshapes industries and concentrates power in the hands of those who control the infrastructure. Quantum computing is not here at scale yet, but it is being built while most of us are still arguing about prompts and chatbots. If AI is hungry, quantum may well be its next meal: a new source of computing power that amplifies both the promise and the risks of intelligent machines.

Our task, especially in countries like South Africa, is not to become quantum physicists overnight, but to lift our eyes a little beyond the immediate AI hype. If we start thinking now about skills, sovereignty and governance, we stand a better chance of being active participants in the next computing revolution, rather than spectators watching from the sidelines.

Author Bio: Johan Steyn is a prominent AI thought leader, speaker, and author with a deep understanding of artificial intelligence’s impact on business and society. He is passionate about ethical AI development and its role in shaping a better future. Find out more about Johan’s work at https://www.aiforbusiness.net