Podcast: Quantum computing to boom in next three to five years

Quant speaks of collaboration with Nasa and machine-learning algos for yield curves

Alexei Kondratyev

Image: Monika Ghose

For our latest Quantcast, we talk to Alexei Kondratyev, managing director of the data analytics group at Standard Chartered in London.

As part of what he candidly admits is his dream job, Kondratyev applies machine learning and artificial intelligence to extract useful information and value from what in the past were unmanageably large datasets.

In one such project, published in his new paper Curve dynamics with artificial neural networks, he shows how artificial neural networks (ANN) can capture term structure movements accurately, and how this compares to non-paremetric standard methods such as principal component analysis (PCA). Neural networks preserve a wealth of information but are weaker than PCA in detecting regime changes.

Earlier this year, Kondratyev’s team began collaborating with Nasa and the Universities Space Research Association (USRA) to experiment with D-Wave’s quantum computers and deploy those machines to solve portfolio optimisation problems. He shares some of the insights from this ongoing project, and his expectations around the impact of this potentially disruptive technology on finance and cyber security.

Index

­   Intro

­   02:10. Curve dynamics with artificial neural networks. Pros and cons of ANN vs principal component analysis

­   09:30. ANN’s second life

­   12:15. ANN applications

­   13:50. Quantum computing with Nasa and USRA

­   22:05. When is it going to show a significant speed-up?

­   25:20. Quantum cyber crime

­   28:10. What are machine learning and artificial intelligence?

To hear the full interview, listen in the player above, or download. Future podcasts in our Quantcast series will be uploaded to Risk.net. You can also visit the main page here to access all tracks or go to the iTunes store to listen and subscribe.