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EU Seeks Private Investment to Lead Quantum Technology by 2030

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The European Union is turning to private funding to strengthen its position in quantum technology, aiming to reduce dependence on the U.S. and China, EU tech chief Henna Virkkunen announced Wednesday. Quantum computing promises vastly faster processing speeds than traditional computers and could revolutionize various sectors, potentially generating trillions of dollars in value over the next decade, according to McKinsey.

Virkkunen highlighted that while Europe has already invested over 11 billion euros ($13 billion) in public funding for quantum technology over the past five years, only 5% of global private investments flow to Europe. To address this gap, the EU plans to intensify efforts to attract private capital in the coming months.

The EU Quantum Strategy also calls for greater collaboration among member states to pool expertise, enhance research and infrastructure, and support a vibrant ecosystem of startups and scale-ups. A key focus is helping startups avoid acquisition by foreign entities or relocation to regions with better funding opportunities.

Looking ahead, the European Commission intends to propose a “Quantum Act” next year to build on the strategy and further promote Europe’s quantum ambitions.

BBC Threatens Legal Action Against AI Startup Perplexity Over Content Scraping, FT Reports

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The BBC has threatened to take legal action against AI startup Perplexity, accusing the company of using BBC content to train its “default AI model,” according to the Financial Times report on Friday. This marks the British broadcaster as the latest news organization to allege content scraping by the AI firm.

The BBC may seek an injunction unless Perplexity stops scraping its content, deletes any existing copies used for AI training, and submits “a proposal for financial compensation” to address the alleged misuse of its intellectual property, the FT said, citing a letter sent to Perplexity CEO Aravind Srinivas.

The broadcaster confirmed the report in a statement to Reuters.

Perplexity has faced similar accusations from other media outlets including Forbes and Wired for plagiarizing their content. In response, the startup has launched a revenue-sharing program aimed at addressing publishers’ concerns.

In October last year, the New York Times sent Perplexity a “cease and desist” letter demanding the company stop using its content for generative AI.

Since the rise of ChatGPT, publishers have expressed concerns about AI chatbots combing the internet to extract information and generate summarized content for users.

According to the FT report, the BBC said parts of its content were reproduced verbatim by Perplexity, and links to the BBC website have appeared in the AI startup’s search results.

Perplexity described the BBC’s claims as “manipulative and opportunistic,” stating that the broadcaster has “a fundamental misunderstanding of technology, the internet and intellectual property law,” in a statement to Reuters.

Perplexity’s service provides information by searching the internet, similar to ChatGPT and Google’s Gemini. The startup is backed by notable investors including Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, AI leader Nvidia, and Japan’s SoftBank Group.

The Wall Street Journal reported last month that Perplexity is in advanced talks to raise $500 million in a funding round that would value the company at $14 billion.

French Quantum Computing Firm Pasqal Partners with NVIDIA to Boost Quantum Applications

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Pasqal, a rapidly growing French quantum computing startup, has announced a strategic partnership with Nvidia (NVDA.O) to enhance its quantum applications development tools. Through this collaboration, Pasqal’s customers will gain access to NVIDIA’s open-source platform, CUDA-Q, for improved quantum computing capabilities.

The partnership aims to integrate Pasqal’s quantum computing units and cloud platform with CUDA-Q, providing a powerful interface and programming model for high-performance computing. This move is expected to accelerate the development of quantum applications, benefiting both the high-performance computing community and the broader quantum industry.

Loic Henriet, CEO of Pasqal, emphasized that the collaboration would provide a much-needed interface for developers and further fuel innovation in the quantum computing space.

Founded in 2019, Pasqal has already secured over 140 million euros ($151.8 million) in funding, marking it as a significant player in the growing quantum computing sector.