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With all the news in the quantum world this monthincluding DARPA’s new list of the most viable quantum companies, and Quantinuum’s announcement of “the most accurate quantum computer in the world“IBM, not to be outdone, put out a statement of its own. The top-line message: We’re doing great! IBM’s quantum program is hitting all the milestones it’s set out in its most recent road mapand it is accelerating progress toward a large-scale, fault-tolerant quantum computer, by shifting production of its quantum processors out of its research labs to an 300mm quantum advanced 300mm wafer fabrication facility at the Albany NanoTech Complex. The move will double the speed at which IBM can produce quantum processors, and enable a tenfold increase in their physical complexity.The company also announced two new processors, which IBM Fellow and Director of Quantum Systems Jerry Chow told me, on a recent tour of the company’s lab in Yorktown Heights, represent the company’s two-pronged path moving forward. The IBM Quantum Nighthawk processor, which allows more complex computations with the same low error rates as its predecessor, is built for near-term “quantum advantage”applications that show an edge over classical (non-quantum) computing approaches alone. 300mm IBM Quantum Nighthawk wafer [Photo: IBM] By combining high-powered computing (HPC) with quantum processors, IBM believes that researchers will show verifiable examples of quantum advantage in 2026. The company has joined with Algorithmiq, Flatiron Institute, and BlueQubit to create an open, community-led “quantum advantage tracker” to systematically monitor and verify emerging demonstrations of advantage.The company’s experimental IBM Quantum Loon processor, on the other hand, is a step toward the company’s vision of large-scale “fault-tolerant” quantum computing, which it aims to realize by 2029. The Loon chip demonstrates a new architecture capable of implementing and scaling all the components needed for practical, high-efficiency quantum error correction. A year ahead of schedule, IBM also showed that using classical computing hardware, it could accurately decode errors in real-time, relying on efficient qLDPC (quantum low-density parity check) codes.“You can’t just wait for fault-tolerance,” says Chow. “Even when you get to those machines, you’re going to look at, how do you integrate with the classical side? How do you actually build all the tools and the libraries, all the software pieces [or applications]?” “You can already to start to build that with the machines today,” Chow continues. “They’re going to be at a different scale and more heuristic [trial and error] in nature. But it’s better to get on board than to just wait and have it show up on your doorstep and not know what to do with it.”
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In the space of a few months, a journalistic skill that might seem straightforward to many viewersediting tape for broadcasthas been behind a $16 million legal settlement, a network’s change in how it offers interviews on a news show, and now, the resignation of two top leaders at the BBC. The other common denominator: President Donald Trump. Britain’s BBC is reeling this week following the resignations of its director-general, Tim Davie, and news chief Deborah Turness amid accusations of bias in the editing of last year’s documentary, Trump: A Second Chance. The BBC admitted filmmakers spliced together quotes from different sections of the speech Trump made before the Jan. 6, 2021, storming of the U.S. Capitol to make it seem like he was directly urging violence. Trump sued CBS’ parent company over a 60 Minutes edit of Kamala Harris’ interview, resulting in this summer’s settlement, and the complaints of his Homeland Security secretary, Kristi Noem, about her Face the Nation interview in August caused a policy change. In a different time, the BBC episode would likely have led to a quick admission of a mistake, a correction, apology, and everyone would have moved on, said Mark Lukasiewicz, a former NBC News executive and now dean of Hofstra University’s School of Communication. But in an era where every editing decision taken in a newsroom is now under a microscope and can be weaponized for political purposes,” he said, it’s got to be something that is causing real caution in newsrooms all over the world now. Editing decisions were once largely behind the scenes Questioning edits is another tool for the president to strike back at journalists who displease him. He has restricted access by The Associated Press after its decision not to follow his lead in renaming the Gulf of Mexico, sued outlets like The New York Times and Wall Street Journal, and stripped funding for public broadcasting because he doesn’t like its news coverage. Much like print reporters who search through notebooks for the perfect quote, video editors often labor to identify footage that will advance a story. Sometimes the perfect image does not exist, or a quote isn’t as succinct or sharp as a medium under constant time constraints demands. That can lead to the temptation to rearrange or even manipulate. NBC News got in trouble more than a decade ago for a story about George Zimmermanwho fatally shot Trayvon Martin, a young man who was in his Florida gated community. It quoted Zimmerman talking to a police dispatcher about Martin, saying this guy looks like he’s up to no good. He looks Black. In reality, Zimmerman’s description of Martin’s activities last longer, and his speculation about Martin’s race was a direct response to a police dispatcher’s question about it. Zimmerman sued NBC News for libel, a case later thrown out by a judge. NBC apologized to its viewers. Katie Couric apologized in 2016 when an editor for her Under the Gun documentary inserted an eight-second pause after footage of Couric questioning guns right activists about background checks. The activists actually responded right away. Quotes artificially compressed in BBC documentary In the BBC edit, different parts of Trump’s 2021 Capitol speech are edited to appear as a single quote: We’re going to walk down to the Capitol and I’ll be there with you. And we fight. We fight like hell. But the second two sentences of that quote were actually said nearly an hour later than the first sentence, and part of his speech where he said he wanted supporters to demonstrate peacefully was omitted. In an interview that aired Tuesday on Fox News, Trump said, I guess I have to sue the BBC. Because I think they defrauded the public and they’ve admitted it. In teaching video editing to students at Syracuse University, Jamie Hoskins said she repeatedly emphasizes the need not to be misleading. She’s a former news producer who worked in New York City, Washington, D.C. and Buffalo, New York. I talk about that in every class at every level, she said. You don’t want to mischaracterize what people are saying or change their meaning by piecing things together. The proliferation of videoever shorter, ever snappieron TikTok and Instagram adds to pressure placed on journalists. The ability of AI to manufacture completely false video is yet another complication. Fake, racist video of Black food assistance recipients complaining about missing benefits due to the government shutdown spread online; a Fox News digital story linked to some of the videos earlier this month and had to be corrected. We live in a world now where people can get content from everywhere, Hoskins said. There is a difference between content and journalism. A new way to protect against complaints At the root of Trump’s complaint about 60 Minutes was an exchange between correspondent Bill Whitaker and Kamala Harris, the president’s opponent in last year’s election. CBS aired two different reportson 60 Minutes and Face the Nationdepicting Harris giving two different answers to a Whitaker question about the war in the Mideast. CBS News said both responses were part of Harris’ long-winded answer to the same question. But to people who saw both broadcasts, the effect was jarring; other news outlets say they have a strict policy, when they show an interviewer posing a question, that the immediate, direct response is aired. CBS News defended it as routine editing. But it gave Trump n opening to charge that it was done to benefit Harris’ campaign. I don’t think the practices and standards are worse today than they were a few years ago, Lukasiewicz said. I think the consequences of mistakes are more serious than perhaps they used to be, he said, because of the ability and willingness of politicians to seize on them. In Noem’s pretaped talk with Face the Nation moderator Margaret Brennan this summer, the Homeland Security secretary complained CBS News had shamefully edited the interview to whitewash the truth. The network had shortened the interview, removing some accusations Noem had made about Kilmar Abrego Garcia, the immigrant deported by the Trump administration. In response, the network said that it would only air interviews on Face the Nation that were conducted live or, if taped in advance, would have to air in full. More often, networks are defusing potential editing controversies by posting online full, unedited transcripts of key interviews, Lukasiewicz said. CBS News did that immediately when it aired a pre-taped edited interview with Trump on Nov. 2, along with video. The network didn’t release a transcript of its Harris interview for more than three monthsnot until Trump had sued and the FCC launched an investigation of the news division. The Trump transcript release created its own issues, with dozens of amateur editors comparing the transcript to the shorter, edited interview that aired on 60 Minutes to see what producers had decided to leave out. This time, though, Trump had no complaints. David Bauder, AP media writer
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Electricity demand will rise much faster than overall energy growth in the coming decades, underscoring the need for diversified energy sources, according to an analysis released Wednesday. The report by the International Energy Agency said renewable energy, led by solar power, will grow faster than any other major source in the next few years and that coal and oil demand will likely peak globally by the end of this decade. The report noted that many natural gas projects were approved in 2025, due to changes in U.S. policy, indicating worldwide supply will rise even as questions remain about how it will be used. Meanwhile, global nuclear power capacity is set to increase by at least a third by 2035 after being stagnant for years. The release of the annual World Energy Outlook coincided with U.N. climate negotiations in Brazil this week, where global leaders are calling for ways to curb the planet’s warming. Regional dynamics The IEA says building greater resilience in energy systems is especially important as data centers, heating and cooling, electrification, and more drive energy demand. Investment in data centers is expected to reach $580 billion this year, exceeding investment in the oil supply, according to the report. Growing economies including India and nations in Southeast Asia, the Middle East, Africa, and Latin America, will increasingly shape energy market dynamics in the years, the IEA said, noting their potential for solar power. China, meanwhile, has accounted for half the global growth in demand for oil and gas, and more than half for electricity, since 2010. In a break from the trend of the past decade, the increase in electricity consumption is no longer limited to emerging and developing economies, IEA Executive Director Fatih Birol said in a release. Birol said that electricity use is also rising in advanced economies. Nations are grappling with meeting demand while preparing for the risks brought on by the planets warming. The IEA says the world is falling short on universal energy access and climate change goals. Around 730 million people still live without electricity, according to the IEA, and despite progress, nearly one-quarter of the global population still relies on inefficient cooking methods that hurt their health or the environment. 2024 was also the hottest year on record. Nations should diversify their energy sources and cooperate to expand supply chains for critical minerals used to make things like batteries for electric vehicles and components for solar and wind power generation, the IEA said. This also includes making quick improvements to the grid, energy storage and broader infrastructure. When we look at the history of the energy world in recent decades, there is no other time when energy security tensions have applied to so many fuels and technologies at once, Birol said. With energy security front and (center) for many governments, their responses need to consider the synergies and trade-offs that can arise with other policy goals on affordability, access, competitiveness and climate change. In a conference call Wednesday, Birol said: We will still use oil, we will still use gas. But the growth of electricity demand is spectacular. He noted the role transportation plays in accounting for 45% of global oil consumption, for example. How the electrification of the transportation takes place, especially in countries beyond China and Europe, will determine the shape of the oil demand and growth. Global reaction Wednesday’s edition of the yearly report is the first released since the start of U.S. President Donald Trumps second term. Trump’s administration has for a second time opted out of the Paris agreement, rolled back dozens of climate regulations, slashed federal support for renewable energies such as wind and solar power, and is reversing the endangerment finding that sits at the core of U.S. climate policy. Trump has pledged his support instead to the fossil fuel industry, investing in coal and loosening restrictions on pollution. But energy analysts said the shift to clean power is happening regardless of climate policy around the world. The evidence on the ground is overwhelming. EV sales are taking off in many emerging countries, solar is permeating even through the Middle East, said Dave Jones, chief analyst at global energy think tank Ember. “Renewables and electrification will dominate the future. Maria Pastukhova, energy transition program lead at climate change think tank E3G, said the report makes the choices for the global energy system and the global economy unambiguous. If countries want to grow their economies and protect their citizens from roller-coaster energy prices, they need to focus relentlessly on energy efficiency and the (decarbonization) of energy demand, Pastukhova said. Others, however, were critical of how the outlook addressed oil and gas. Ben Backwell, CEO of the Global Wind Energy Council, said the outlook does not fully capture the momentum in renewables, and that it should have emphasized the trajectory for renewable energy is accelerating, driven by the decreasing cost of the technologies, strong policy support and the move toward electrification. Were accelerating, he added. You can see it all around the world and we can see it in our numbers for last year, but also in our numbers for the first half of this year. It looks very, very exciting, both for wind and for solar, in fact, and for next year, even more so. The outlook foresees the likelihood of surpassing the warming threshold of 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.7 degrees Fahrenheit) established in the Paris Agreement. Nonetheless, Stephan Singer, global energy senior advisor at CAN International, a global network of environmental organizaions, said getting below that point is still possible. The IEA addressed some of the criticism in the call Wednesday. It said that it sees differences economically, politically, and with regard to clean energy efforts across the globe, and that its analysis tries to account for those differences. In a nutshell, the IEA is backsliding. As a global think tank, the IEA has largely failed to represent where most countries in the (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development) and the developing world are, as theyre supporting net zero emissions with 98% CO2 emissions reductions by mid-century,” Singer said. Alexa St. John, Associated Press climate reporter Associated Press reporters Jennifer McDermott and Sibi Arasu contributed to this report. The Associated Press climate and environmental coverage receives financial support from multiple private foundations. AP is solely responsible for all content. Find APs standards for working with philanthropies, a list of supporters and funded coverage areas at AP.org.
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