IBM Announces 5 Life-Changing Breakthrough Technologies

1. Crypto-anchor technology and blockchain technology will join forces to fight counterfeit goods

Within the next five years, crypto-anchor technology, or tamper-proof “electronic fingerprints,” will be embedded in everyday objects and devices. These digital fingerprints could take many forms, such as tiny computers or optical codes.

The new computer is said to be the world's smallest, only the size of a grain of salt.

Another example of this crypto-anchor technology is the “swallowable ink” that can be stamped on medical pills. These codes will be used in conjunction with blockchain’s distributed ledger technology to ensure the authenticity of goods from the point of origin to the moment they reach the customer. These technologies pave the way for new solutions to address issues of food safety, the provenance of components in manufacturing, genetically modified products, counterfeit identification, and the provenance of luxury goods.

At the Think 2018 Conference - IBM's biggest annual technology event - taking place in Las Vegas, IBM announced a new computer considered the world's smallest, only the size of a grain of salt. The cost of producing this machine is only less than 0.1 USD, and will be applied in the transportation industry. This computer uses crypto-anchor encryption technology, contains up to 1 million transistors, along with a small amount of static RAM (random access memory), an LED, an image detector that allows it to transmit information, and an integrated photovoltaic cell.

2. Lattice encryption technology protects you from hackers

IBM is developing new encryption methods to keep up with emerging technologies like quantum computers that could one day break all current encryption protocols. IBM researchers have developed a quantum-ready encryption method, which they have submitted to the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and called lattice cryptography. No computer, not even a quantum computer, can break this encryption. With lattice cryptography, users can work on a file, or encrypt it, without exposing sensitive data to hackers.

Lattice encryption technology is developed based on an underlying structure, hiding data behind complex mathematical formulas called lattices. Lattice encryption technology is also the basis of another encryption technology called Full Homomorphic Encryption (FHE), which allows performing calculations on a file without viewing sensitive data or exposing information to hackers.

Lattice encryption technology also forms the basis of another encryption technology called Full Homomorphic Encryption (FHE). FHE makes it possible to perform computations on a file without ever seeing the sensitive data or exposing it to hackers.

3. AI-powered microscope robots will save the oceans

In the next five years, AI-powered microscopes will continuously monitor the health of one of our most vital and endangered resources, water. These microscopes will be small, autonomous, cloud-connected, and deployed worldwide. IBM scientists are working on a method that uses plankton, which are natural biosensors of the state of the aquatic environment.

AI-powered microscope robots will save the oceans

AI microscopes could be placed in water bodies to monitor the movements of plankton in their natural environment, and use this information to predict their behavior and health. Plankton are the foundation of the marine food chain – a major source of protein for over a billion people. So studying and predicting the behavior of plankton could be useful in situations such as oil spills and land-based pollution, and in predicting threats to aquatic environments such as red tides.

4. Biased AI will explode, but only unbiased AI will survive

Over the next five years, we will have new solutions to combat the dramatic increase in AI systems and algorithms that are riddled with human biases. When building trustworthy AI systems, it is important to develop and train them with data that is fair, unbiased, can be understood in multiple languages, and is free of racial, gender, or ideological biases.

With this goal in mind, IBM researchers have developed a method to reduce the bias that may be present in data files, so that any AI algorithms that are subsequently trained on those data files will be increasingly less biased. IBM scientists have also come up with a way to test AI systems even if the data used to train the AI ​​is not disclosed.

5. Quantum computers will become more common

Quantum computers are still in the research and development stage, but in the next 5 years, quantum computers will be widely used by experts and developers in new fields to solve problems that were once considered unsolvable. Quantum computers will be common in universities, and to some extent, even high schools.

Quantum computers will become more common.

IBM researchers have achieved important milestones in quantum chemistry. They have successfully simulated the atomic bonds in beryllium hydrocarbon (BeH2), the most complex molecule ever simulated by a quantum computer. In the future, quantum computers will continue to solve problems of increasing complexity, eventually catching up and surpassing what can be done by classical machines.

Quantum computers are the next level of a super-powerful computer system. In conventional computers, data is stored only in the form of 0s and 1s, while quantum computers use qubits - quantum bits, quantum bits, which allow computers to record data in multiple states at the same time (for example, it can be 0, it can be 1 or it can be 0 and 1 at the same time), which allows quantum computers to perform more complex calculations.