Hacker News

by Ryan Harman

Boffin claims Microsoft's "quantum leap" is invalid due to "basic Python errors" (theregister.com)

77 points by connorboyle 2 hours ago

jdw64 an hour ago

https://github.com/microsoft/azure-quantum-tgp

```

return xr.apply_ufunc(

    lambda x: (x - x[::-1]) / 2,

    conductance,

    input_core_dims=[dims],

    output_core_dims=[dims],

    vectorize=True,
) ```

Reading the article about how they filtered and cherry-picked specific regions, I got curious about the actual asymmetry computation, so I looked up the source code. Looking at it, they seem to have used memory offsets as if they were physical coordinates, but they're only looking at the array index order, not the actual values. x[::-1] isn't measuring physical coordinates; it's just reversing the array. So it seems this bias axis mentioned in the article only forms when things are symmetric. But in typical numerical computations, isn't it pretty common to reverse arrays like this? In this case, there must be a reason why the physical coordinates change. Should we be verifying invariants here? Sometimes I see people who find these kinds of issues and I think they're really amazing. Even after reading the article, tracing it, and debugging it, I kept wondering what the problem was..

simonw 4 minutes ago

On Hacker News you can indent code samples with two spaces, like this:

  return xr.apply_ufunc(
      lambda x: (x - x[::-1]) / 2,
      conductance,
      input_core_dims=[dims],
      output_core_dims=[dims],
      vectorize=True,
  )

frollogaston 2 hours ago

Was pleasantly surprised to see the exact bug in here, in a "The Register" article of all places. Legg showed that fixing the bug invalidates the research. Seems Microsoft is responding to a clear problem with a vague dismissal.

Edit: Oh, The Register is a true tech paper, guess the name makes sense for that. Got mixed up cause there are a bunch of general papers called something Register.

dekhn an hour ago

The Register is a tech paper that is modelled on various British tabloids (daily mail, the sun). Sometimes it's humor, sometimes it's real news and occasionally they even break a new story.

rtkwe 11 minutes ago

I always find it hard to remember which of the British publications are real and which are pure trash. Usually they reveal it pretty quickly with the writing though.

frollogaston an hour ago

Haha, they got me. Was mostly thinking "The Daily Register" which doesn't exist, but Daily Mail does.

Isamu 27 minutes ago

When I see “boffin” in a title I think “The Register” so kudos I guess.

mjhay an hour ago

You’d really think they’d really check everything and cross their t’s after their previous issues in marjorana fermion QC. I generally have a very high opinion of MS research, but this is getting a bit embarrassing.

rvba 29 minutes ago

Looks that the next step of this "project" is selecting a patsy and blaming all on that one sacrificial person

Ifkaluva 15 minutes ago

I guess the thing to do is see who wrote the critical code segment… oh wait, it was AI, lol

gadders 2 hours ago

Love the word "boffin". I think we should use "pundit" more often as well.

Anthony-G 2 hours ago

As soon as I saw this word, I guessed that El Reg was the source.

happytoexplain an hour ago

I was surprised to see it - I thought "boffin" was good-natured but highly irreverent, like "nerd". But I can't imagine any publication writing the headline, "Computer nerd claims Microsoft's supposed quantum leap does not compute."

wiml an hour ago

"Good natured but highly irreverent" is pretty much The Register's house style.

gh02t 31 minutes ago

To be fair, "boffin" usually implies someone has relevant (usually scientific) expertise, but nerd doesn't. Henry Legg has the relevant credentials to give weight to his claims, he's not just some random basement nerd.

SAI_Peregrinus an hour ago

The Register is highly irreverent, as a rule.

cpncrunch an hour ago

It's typical of the Register. They always use the word "boffin" for expert/scientist. It's a british word used to describe a clever person.

MobiusHorizons an hour ago

sensanaty an hour ago

Completely unrelated but I'm always sad that Umbra, Penumbra and Equinox aren't used very often in day-to-day speech, very cool sounding words.

devin 23 minutes ago

Also, adumbrate.

rdtsc an hour ago

> boffins willing to go on the record as describing Microsoft's work as "unreliable" and perhaps even "fraudulent."

> Microsoft insisted its work is sound and in early June 2026 announced Majorana 2, a "next-generation topological quantum chip" it developed with the help of its own agentic AI.

AI hallucinates quantum computing bullshit as well or better than humans can hallucinate quantum computing bullshit. Couldn't have a better combination of technologies helping each other out.

frollogaston an hour ago

The kinds of bugs really look like human mistakes more than AI

ck2 19 minutes ago

Majorana fermion and Ettore Majorana are fascinating

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Majorana_fermion

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ettore_Majorana

josefritzishere an hour ago

Is it premature to assume it's due to AI Microslop?

teshier-A 16 minutes ago

Unless if you list AI as a co-author, people are still responsible for the code they ship. Whatever tool was used to write said code