Quantum creativity with James Wootton

In this episode, Sebastian Hassinger welcomes back James Wootton, now Chief Science Officer at Moth Quantum, for a fascinating conversation about quantum computing's role in creative applications. This is a return visit from James, having appeared on episode 2, this time to talk about his exciting new role. Previously at IBM Quantum, James has been a pioneer in exploring unconventional applications of quantum computing, particularly in gaming, art, and creative industries.

Key Topics

Origins of James's Quantum Journey

• Started in Arosa, Switzerland (coincidentally where Schrödinger developed his wave equation)
• Initially skeptical about commercial applications of his quantum error correction research
• Created "Decodoku" (a play on "decoder" and "Sudoku"), a puzzle game to gamify quantum error correction in 2016
• The same year IBM put a 5 qubit machine on the cloud, creating a paradigm shift in accessibility

Quantum Gaming Innovations

• Developed what may be the first quantum computing game
• Created "Hello Quantum," a mobile educational game
• Developed "Quantum Blur," a tool that encodes images in quantum states, allowing users to see how quantum gates affect images
• Used quantum computing for procedural generation in games, including terrain generation for Minecraft-like environments

Quantum Art and Creativity

• Collaborated with a classical painter who has used Quantum Blur as his main artistic tool for five years
• Explored using quantum computing for music generation
• Investigated language generation using the DiscoCat framework

Moth Quantum

• James joined Moth Quantum as Chief Science Officer
• The company focuses on bringing quantum computing to creative industries
• Their approach recognizes that in creative fields, "usefulness" can mean bringing something unique rather than just superior performance
• Aims to build expertise with current quantum technologies to be ready when fault tolerance enables quantum advantage
• At the beginning of May, 2025, Moth collaborated with musical artist ILA on a project called "Infinite Remix," using quantum computing in the creation of an exciting new musical creation tool.