https://www.wired.com/story/googles-quantum-supremacy-isnt-end-encryption/

Google accidentally made computer science history last week. In recent years the company has been part of an intensifying competition with rivals such as IBM and Intel to develop quantum computers, which promise immense power on some problems by tapping into quantum physics. The search company has attempted to stand out by claiming its prototype quantum processors were close to demonstrating “quantum supremacy,” an evocative phrase referring to an experiment in which a quantum computer outperforms a classical one. One of Google’s lead researchers predicted the company would reach that milestone in 2017.

Friday, news slipped out that Google had reached the milestone. The Financial Times drew notice to a draft research paper that had been quietly posted to a NASA website in which Google researchers describe achieving quantum supremacy. Within hours, Democratic presidential candidate Andrew Yang was warning that Google’s quantum computers could break encryption, and quantum computing researchers were trying to assure the world that conventional computers and security are not obsolete.