Education, regulations and investment needed to ensure responsible and ethical quantum technology development

Education, regulations and investment in have-not populations are all required to ensure the development and use of ethical and inclusive quantum technologies, experts say.

Without such initiatives, there’s a risk that quantum will go the same direction as artificial intelligence, where wealthy multinational tech corporations now dominate AI development and deployment, panelists told Quantum City's  qConnect quantum conference in Calgary.

“I think it’s early enough [with quantum] that we do have a chance to do it right, with the right motive and the right engagement from stakeholders,” said Tina Dekker (photo at left), associate at BLG (Borden Ladner Gervais) law firm.

“We didn’t really see it with AI – it kind of didn’t go very well with AI. But here, [with quantum] we have a chance,” she said during a panel session titled “Inclusive Pathways Forward to Quantum in Society.”

The combination of AI and quantum has the potential to solve many of global society’s biggest problems, such as climate change, said Greg Hart (photo at right), co-founder and chief design officer at Calgary-based InceptionU, a private, not-for-profit learning organization addressing the skills gaps in the digital economy.

However, such disruptive technologies as AI and quantum, which will impact every country, government, business and individual, also will result in consequences, he said.

“We need to think about what the worst ones might be. Genies don’t go back in the bottle,” Hart said.

Ryan Mandelbaum (photo at left), editor in chief for content at IBM Quantum, who co-founded the company’s Responsible Quantum program, agreed that everyone, from quantum technology developers to government policymakers to everyday citizens, needs to stop and ask who will be affected by new quantum applications.

IBM has an AI ethics board with a set of principles to guide responsible AI development, and is applying similar principles to quantum computing, Mandelbaum said.

The principles include: explore use cases with foresight; accelerate positive applications; and build a globally inclusive community of quantum developers.

Dekker said it’s crucial to have interdisciplinary conversations about the impacts of quantum technologies, including involving professionals who aren’t trained in quantum.

Impact assessment, standards and regulations are all needed to guide ethical quantum development and identify negative paths, she said. But a lack of clarity with some regulations is causing uncertainty, she added.

Dekker said there is a lot of international collaboration looking at quantum risks and safety issues, but there’s a “nationalistic focus” when it comes to developing quantum.

For example, high-performance computing is accessible via cloud computing services, but access to these services relies on a few big companies. Those companies could decide, for whatever reason, to revoke access to their services, Dekker said.

Dekker noted that BLG uses a risk-based assessment approach – not a technology-based approach focused on, for example, the size or power of a quantum computer – to consider the impact of quantum technology applications.

She said she has seen a lot of cases in AI where the algorithms used to create AI systems for automated decision-making have caused harm because of inherent biases used to train the AI model. “We want the public to embrace quantum, not fear it.”

Learning about quantum technologies

Hart said there needs to be a coordinated effort to “deliberately democratize” quantum computing, or the world will end up with have and have-not populations with both quantum and AI technologies.

Education systems need to move to a learning approach that encompasses a more integrated viewpoint that embraces complexity and teaches people how to understand it and think more about the future, he said.

Communities need to be involved in co-creating quantum projects and participating in use cases and determining the appropriate applications of the technologies, Hart said.

Mandelbaum noted that IBM uses open source computer systems, offer free learning and education programs, and helps write university courses.

In encouraging people to educate themselves and learn about quantum computing, Mandelbaum pointed to an initiative, called the Quantum Dialogues Program, led by the University of Sherbrooke. “They’re actually proactively reaching out to the community and asking people, ‘What do you think about quantum computing, and do you want to learn more?’”

Mandelbaum also suggested people start educating themselves by reading two publications from the World Economic Forum: Quantum Economy Blueprint and Quantum Computing Governance Principles.

The United Nations has declared 2025 to be the International Year of Quantum Science and Technology, and a main goal is to involve people and locations that wouldn’t usually be engaged in quantum, Mandelbaum said.

Dekker said there is a growing number of organizations in Canada and internationally that are engaging people in learning about and understanding quantum technologies, including the need for ethical development and use.

These organizations include the Quantum Ethics Project, which was started in Canada, the Open Quantum Institute, Girls in Quantum (which provides free educational resources for girls and students to get involved in quantum computing), Qubit X Qubit (an international organization training the future workforce in emerging technologies), and others.

The Quantum Ethics Project is a global, interdisciplinary community of graduate students and researchers exploring the intersection of quantum technology and society. The group advocates for the responsible and inclusive development of quantum technologies through education and research.

The Open Quantum Institute (OQI) is a multilateral governance initiative that promotes global and inclusive access to quantum computing and the development of applications for the benefit of humanity. The organization brings together academia, diplomacy, private sector and philanthropy stakeholders.

OQI during its pilot phase (2024-2026) is hosted by Switzerland-based CERN, which operates the largest particle physics laboratory in the world.

OQI is an initiative of the Geneva Science and Diplomacy Anticipator (GESDA), a Geneva, Switzerland based organization that analyzes how scientific breakthroughs should be developed for the benefit of all.

Panel moderator Catherine Lefebvre (photo at right), senior advisor at OQI and a board member of DISTRIQ, the Quantum Innovation Hub in Quebec, asked the panelists what their dreams for quantum are.

“I really do believe that, with nudging, quantum computing can make the world better.

Quantum can help society solve some of its biggest challenges,” Mandelbaum said. “I would like to see a world where quantum has been realized, and it’s actually solving those problems, and the world is better because quantum computing is in it.”

Hart said he would like to see the combination of quantum and AI solving some of society’s “very wicked problems.”

Dekker said her dream is to see quantum development and use “done in a responsible and equitable way.”

The qConnect conference was presented by Quantum City, a partnership of the University of Calgary, Government of Alberta and technology company Mphasis. Quantum City was established with more than $100 million in private and public investments.

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