Quantum Rings on Into the Impossible with Dr. Brian Keating

We were honored to join Dr. Brian Keating on Into the Impossible this week for an episode provocatively titled "Quantum Computers Aren't Useless. You Just Don't Know How to Use Them." The conversation centered on broadening access to quantum computing education and infrastructure — and why the industry's biggest bottleneck may soon be people, not qubits.

An Extraordinary Few Weeks for Quantum

The pace of progress in quantum computing has been extraordinary recently. In just the past few weeks:

• Google Quantum AI showed that 256-bit elliptic curve cryptography could be broken with fewer than 1,450 logical qubits — challenging the encryption that protects Bitcoin.

• Oratomic and Caltech demonstrated that Shor's algorithm could be run with as few as 10,000 reconfigurable atomic qubits. Those are physical qubits, not logical — previous estimates had placed the threshold in the millions.

• IonQ achieved the first photonic interconnect between two independent, commercial trapped-ion systems — a foundational step toward scalable quantum architectures.

These rapid advancements make the workforce question even more urgent. The technology is arriving. The question is whether there will be enough people ready to use it.

Closing the Gap

Quantum Rings was founded to close that gap. To date, our users at hundreds of universities and research institutions worldwide have executed tens of millions of circuits, comprising tens of billions of quantum gate operations.

The episode offers proof of what's possible: Dr. Keating's own undergraduates at UC San Diego — including a first-year student — went from their first exposure to qubits to implementing Shor's algorithm in six weeks.

What the industry really needs is you, and getting started is free:

• Simulate at scale with the Quantum Rings simulator

• Run on real QPUs through Open Quantum

• New to quantum? Learn the fundamentals with Quantum 101

Watch the Episode

Watch the full episode on YouTube →

And when you're ready to dive in, we put together a companion page for Into the Impossible listeners with everything you need to get started.