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May 12
34m 27s

Quantum creativity with James Wootton

Sebastian Hassinger
About this episode

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. 
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