Quantum computing-based telecom network link now operational: Vaishnaw

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India's first quantum computing-based telecom network link is now operational in the national capital, the Union Minister for Communications and Electronics and Information Technology, Ashwini Vaishnaw, said on Monday.

Speaking at the first international quantum enclave, Vaishnaw said the quantum communication link is now operational between Sanchar Bhawan and National Informatics Centre office located in CGO Complex in the national capital.

"The first quantum secure communication link between Sanchar Bhawan and NIC, CGO complex is now operational," the minister said. He invited ethical hackers to a hackathon to break the encryption with Rs 10 lakh prize money. A quantum network transmits quantum bits (qubits) that can simultaneously take the value of zeros and ones thus making it more difficult to break end-to-end encryption.

At another event, the minister said there could be a big announcement on a conversational Artificial Intelligence (AI) tool within a few weeks.

When asked whether India can build something equivalent to the conversational AI tool ChatGPT, the minister said "wait for a few weeks, there will be a big announcement". However, he declined to share further details saying "Parliament is in session, so I cannot say anything..."

He said while there was a time when India was only seen as a consumer of technology, today "many global developers like to have Indian startups, entrepreneurs and academicians as their partners, as technology gets developed". He emphasized that it was important for the global economy to have a trusted partner like India.

Vaishnaw said that the country has taken rapid strides in areas of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and quantum computing. "... In these two technologies, we would like to use Indian talent for developing solutions for India and for the world," he said.