Its really not on that trajectory tho. Huge inflated numbers of nonfunctional physical qubits are just a way to get funding. Its like AI bros boasting about how much data their LLM model sucked in. The number of usable qubits hasnt changed at all basically. They are still in the stage of figuring out how it even works. Compared to traditional computers, they are at the stage of trying to invent the transistor. Yes in 20-30 years it will maybe be useful, but only if they dont hit physical limitations that prevent scaling. And then the question is FOR WHAT? Dead people cant make use of quantum computers and dead people is what we will be if we dont figure out solutions to some much more imminent, catastrophic problems in the next 10 years.

As you said, this research isnt functional. The TLDR of all of the following is that to my understanding the record holding quantum computer currently has 4 (four) qubits.

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From the original source (caltech)

Looking ahead, the researchers plan to link the qubits in their array together in a state of entanglement, where particles become correlated and behave as one. Entanglement is a necessary step for quantum computers to move beyond simply storing information in superposition; entanglement will allow them to begin carrying out full quantum computations.

So yeah, they arent at the step where they can actually do anything with the qubits they created. 6100 physical qubits also doesnt equal 6100 logical qubits. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Physical_and_logical_qubits

Since the development of the first quantum computer in 1998, most technologies used to implement qubits face issues of stability, decoherence,[6][7] fault tolerance[8][9] and scalability.[6][9][10] Because of this, many physical qubits are needed for the purposes of error-correction to produce an entity which behaves logically as a single qubit would in a quantum circuit or algorithm; this is the subject of quantum error correction.

Im a total non expert on quantum things, but from the looks of it, the most efficient systems (at Microsoft) still need many times the amount of physical to create a single logical qubit.

The team used quantum error correction techniques developed by Microsoft and Quantinuum’s trapped ion hardware to use 30 physical qubits to form four logical qubits.

Its also impossible to read up on this stuff, because lots of research for “quantum computers” actually just algorithmically simulates the logical qubits on standard non quantum hardware. So if you search just for “largest logical qubit system” you get lots of garbage and searching for physical qubits gives you research like this 6,100 number that cant be converted into a realistic number of logical qubits, because the overhead needed for error correction varies drastically between techniques.

What you really wanna know is the largest set of functional logical qubits that actually relies on physical qubits. And the answer to that seems to be 4. Whats needed to break RSA-2048 is probably multiple thousands of those stable, error free logical qubits.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quantinuum#H-Series

The company also holds the record for two-qubit gate fidelity, becoming the first to reach 99.9%. Microsoft and Quantinuum created four logical qubits on the H2 quantum computer, running 14,000 experiments without a single error.

Its 2025 and to my knowledge we have a total of zero quantum computers that can even do basic first grade math.

This article would have been perfect if not for the end. What was missing here was the hard numbers, that we have known for years, which show that the vast majority of child abuse happens inside families and not at all on or through the internet. There are no digital traces for most CSA so you will never be able to effectively fight this if you focus mainly on digital traces.

The challenge now is finding a way to bridge this discrepancy between the privacy and security we deserve with the data usability that law enforcement requires.

When the author is like “hmm but what could we possibly do instead of spying on everyone” they fail in their mission to give readers a realistic view of the situation. The only real solution to this problem is not of technical or digital nature, but of the social and personal kind. Teachers, doctors, caretakers need to be trained to notice patterns that emerge from sexual abuse, not just in children but adults as well, so they can give people the help they need or alert authorities if necessary.