Leading Quantum Physicists from Quantinuum and Chubu University Collaborate on Research into Quantum Artificial Intelligence and Cognition

August 22, 2023

Professor Bob Coecke and Professor Masanao Ozawa will lead a research team exploring applications of quantum theory to models of language, meaning and psychology

Oxford, U.K., and Kasugai, Japan, August 23, 2023 – Quantinuum, the world’s largest quantum computing company, and Chubu University in Japan are pleased to announce a new and timely partnership, co-led by two global experts in quantum models of artificial intelligence, Professors Bob Coecke and Masanao Ozawa. As globally recognized leaders in their field, they will establish an interdisciplinary team to explore quantum computational linguistics and cognition, aimed at building future applications in quantum artificial intelligence.

Professor Coecke has for two decades pioneered research in categorical quantum mechanics and quantum computational linguistics, first at Oxford University, now at Quantinuum and is the acknowledged leader in Quantum Artificial Intelligence. Professor Ozawa, a pioneer in quantum information and foundations, in 2003 derived a new measurement-disturbance relation (Ozawa's Inequality) that corrects the "Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle", and in 2012 succeeded in its experimental verification. He has since led research into quantum operational approach to cognitive psychology.

As a multi-year project, the collaboration will focus on developing compositional models for cognition with potential applications for taking advantage of the latest generation of quantum computers.

Founder and Chief Product Officer of Quantinuum, Ilyas Khan said, “The pioneering work of Professors Ozawa and Coecke reveals the enormous and increasingly relevant potential of quantum computing to truly revolutionize artificial intelligence. Both linguistics and cognition remain intractable to classical computing simulations, but both are amenable to being fully and responsibly exploited by quantum computing. Quantinuum supports transformative work at every stage in the development of quantum computers and the applications and algorithms that use them. Fields like AI have long been synonymous with advances in quantum computing and Quantinuum has established itself as the world-leader in the application of quantum computing to areas related to cognition, such as quantum natural language processing and quantum machine learning.”

This partnership builds on earlier discoveries by Coecke and Ozawa that there are parallels between quantum and cognitive systems, exploring the application of the mathematical structures of quantum theory to observed features of human language and cognition. It is hoped that this work may provide explanations for a range of intractable problems, such as the role of context in generating meaning in text, or cognitive phenomena such as the “question order effect”.

Recognition and current positions (with photos)

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Bob Coecke: Chief Scientist at Quantinuum / Head of Quantinuum's Oxford-based Quantum NLP & Compositional Quantum Intelligence group / Distinguished Visiting Research Chair at the Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics / Emeritus Fellow at Wolfson College Oxford / Visiting Fellow at the Computer Science Department and the Mathematical Institute of Oxford University.

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Masanao Ozawa: Designated Professor of Mathematical Science and Artificial Intelligence at Chubu University / Steering Committee Member of Chubu University Academy of Emerging Sciences / Emeritus Professor at Nagoya University.  He received the Mathematical Society of Japan Prize in 2008, the Commendation for Science and Technology by the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology of Japan in 2010, the International Quantum Communication Award in 2010, and the Medal of Honor with Purple Ribbon from the Cabinet Office of Japan in 2015.

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Kaniah Konkoly-Thege

Kaniah is Chief Legal Counsel and SVP of Government Relations for Quantinuum. In her previous role, she served as General Counsel, Honeywell Quantum Solutions. Prior to Honeywell, she was General Counsel, Honeywell Federal Manufacturing and Technologies, LLC, and Senior Attorney, U.S. Department of Energy. She was Lead Counsel before the Civilian Board of Contract Appeals, the Merit Systems Protection Board, and the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. Kaniah holds a J.D. from American University, Washington College of Law and B.A., International Relations and Spanish from the College of William and Mary.

Jeff Miller

Jeff Miller is Chief Information Officer for Quantinuum. In his previous role, he served as CIO for Honeywell Quantum Solutions and led a cross-functional team responsible for Information Technology, Cybersecurity, and Physical Security. For Honeywell, Jeff has held numerous management and executive roles in Information Technology, Security, Integrated Supply Chain and Program Management. Jeff holds a B.S., Computer Science, University of Arizona. He is a veteran of the U.S. Navy, attaining the rank of Commander.

Matthew Bohne

Matthew Bohne is the Vice President & Chief Product Security Officer for Honeywell Corporation. He is a passionate cybersecurity leader and executive with a proven track record of building and leading cybersecurity organizations securing energy, industrial, buildings, nuclear, pharmaceutical, and consumer sectors. He is a sought-after expert with deep experience in DevSecOps, critical infrastructure, software engineering, secure SDLC, supply chain security, privacy, and risk management.

Todd Moore

Todd Moore is the Global Vice President of Data Encryption Products at Thales. He is responsible for setting the business line and go to market strategies for an industry leading cybersecurity business. He routinely helps enterprises build solutions for a wide range of complex data security problems and use cases. Todd holds several management and technical degrees from the University of Virginia, Rochester Institute of Technology, Cornell University and Ithaca College. He is active in his community, loves to travel and spends much of his free time supporting his family in pursuing their various passions.

John Davis

Retired U.S. Army Major General John Davis is the Vice President, Public Sector for Palo Alto Networks, where he is responsible for expanding cybersecurity initiatives and global policy for the international public sector and assisting governments around the world to prevent successful cyber breaches. Prior to joining Palo Alto Networks, John served as the Senior Military Advisor for Cyber to the Under Secretary of Defense for Policy and served as the Acting Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Cyber Policy.  Prior to this assignment, he served in multiple leadership positions in special operations, cyber, and information operations.