Project: The Q-Shift: Decision-Making in the Age of Quantum AI

Acronym	QSHIFT (Reference Number: CHANSE-26)
Duration	01/11/2022 - 01/11/2025
Project Topic	Current research maintains that quantum computing (QC) and artificial intelligence (AI) have the potential to significantly improve our ability to find answers to complex problems. For example, due to the capability of QC to catalyze pattern classification and data categorization, these technologies promise to fundamentally advance prediction of complex system dynamics. We call this development the Q-shift. To explore how such a leap in computational power might affect society, this proposal intends to study Quantum AI from the following three perspectives. First, the objective is to advance our understanding of the possible future trajectories the technology might take by analyzing the cultural and social forces it is shaped by. To do so, the analysis will address the narratives and identities with which the technology is entangled. Second, the investigation focuses on whether and how Quantum AI upsets traditional decision-making processes. Here, we are specifically interested in how large system simulations might impinge on human agency, trust, and accountability between individuals and collectives and how QC will contribute to the entanglement of human and machine intelligence and a development towards a “hybrid mind”. Third, the project aims to bring into focus socio-political aspects that might result from asymmetries in knowledge, access, and participation. To achieve these goals, the project group will rely on a thorough discussion of philosophical and legal texts pertinent to the topic. In addition, the inquiry will be based on empirical data collected through content analysis and expert interviews. The project team consists of specialists from management, communication sciences, law, philosophy, and neuropsychology and will allow for an interdisciplinary and expert implementation of this proposal.
Network	CHANSE
Call	Transformations: Social and Cultural Dynamics in the Digital Age

Project partner

Number	Name	Role	Country
1	University of St. Gallen	Coordinator	Switzerland
2	University of Copenhagen	Partner	Denmark
3	Lund University	Partner	Sweden
4	Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin	Partner	Germany
5	Strangeworks	Observer	United States
6	ada Learning GmbH	Observer	Germany