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This is today's edition of The Download, our weekday newsletter that provides a daily dose of what's going on in the world of technology.
IBM aims to build the world’s first large-scale, error-corrected quantum computer by 2028
The news: IBM announced detailed plans today to build an error-corrected quantum computer with significantly more computational capability than existing machines by 2028. It hopes to make the computer available to users via the cloud by 2029. What is it?
Why it matters: IBM claims Starling will be a leap forward in quantum computing. In particular, the company aims for it to be the first large-scale machine to implement error correction. If Starling achieves this, IBM will have solved arguably the biggest technical hurdle facing the industry today. Read the full story.
—Sophia Chen
The Pentagon is gutting the team that tests AI and weapons systems
The Trump administration’s chainsaw approach to federal spending lives on, even as Elon Musk turns on the president.
As part of a string of moves, Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth has cut the size of the Office of the Director of Operational Test and Evaluation in half. The group was established in the 1980s after criticisms that the Pentagon was fielding weapons and systems that didn’t perform as safely or effectively as advertised. Hegseth is reducing the agency’s staff to about 45, down from 94, and firing and replacing its director.
It is a significant overhaul of a department that in 40 years has never before been placed so squarely on the chopping block.
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