Responsible quantum computing

IBM® is committed to empowering clients and partners to meet their customers' expectations for responsible technology. As part of the IBM technology portfolio, quantum computing now falls under the IBM Responsible Technology and Governance Framework, which applies a foundation for building responsible technology, evaluating the capabilities of technology and its impact on human agency, societal well-being, and environmental sustainability.

Since first putting a quantum computer on the cloud, IBM has been committed to bringing useful quantum computing to the world. This means realizing use cases with our clients and building an ecosystem around this technology. Core to this mission is trust. We devote substantial effort to the responsible development and deployment of quantum. This includes decision making aligned with the IBM principles of trust plus a code of conduct that governs the open-source Qiskit community.

Previously, we published five principles detailing our commitment to responsible quantum: 1. make a positive societal impact, 2. make consistent and transparent principled decisions, 3. explore use cases with foresight, 4. promote our products accurately, and 5. build a diverse and inclusive quantum community. Since then, we've aligned quantum with the IBM Responsible Technology team to ensure that their principles and processes incorporate our philosophy.

Responsible technology is not aspirational but embedded and actionable across quantum and the broader company, and reinforces IBM's core values of client dedication, innovation that matters, and trust. We endeavor for quantum to shape human agency, societal well-being, and improve environmental sustainability. We continue to extend quantum to the world through our access plans, the Qiskit open source community, and our world-leading free education.

Bringing useful quantum computing to the world means doing so responsibly—and we feel confident that the IBM Responsible Technology board and Principles of Trust allow us to achieve that goal. For more information, please review IBM's approach to responsible technology.