IBM Quantum Challenge 2024 Showcases Watsonx AI Tools

IBM has opened its annual challenge for developers, inviting participants to use the Qiskit quantum software development kit and progress toward utility-scale quantum experiments.

IBM Quantum Challenge 2024 runs from June 5 to June  14 June. According to IBM, it is tailored for anyone to join, regardless of experience.

This year’s challenge plans to showcase the new features of Qiskit 1.0, which include a code assistant powered by watsonx, IBM’s generative AI and scientific data platform.

IBM wants participants to get experience of utility-scale quantum computing using 100 qubits or more. Utility scale is defined as when a quantum computer can perform reliable computations to solve computational problems that brute-force classical computing methods could not.

The challenge uses interactive notebooks that contain tutorial material, code examples and auto-graded coding challenges, each of which IBM calls a lab.

“While the first lab can be completed by beginners, the final labs will test your Qiskit knowledge,” IBM said in a blog post. “This is, after all, a challenge.”

The labs follow a mystery story in the world of the birds that inspired the nomenclature of IBM’s quantum hardware. The company debuted its 133-qubit Heron processor late last year, succeeding Condor, Osprey and Eagle.

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As previous challenges saw a bottleneck for processing, the labs in this year’s Quantum Challenge will not require participants to run their code on real quantum hardware, although it can be transitioned to run on actual hardware after testing.

This article was first published on AI Business's sister publication Enter Quantum.