Quantum algorithms may be on the horizon Colin Anderson Productions/Getty

Machine learning is growing ever more sophisticated, thanks to algorithms which pit two artificial intelligences against each other. These algorithms, known as generative adversarial networks (GANs), have already been used to create art, crack encryption codes, and produce uncannily real pictures of faces and animals.

Researchers have now combined GANs with another hot technology: quantum computing. Luyan Sun at Tsinghua University in Beijing, China and his colleagues have created a GAN on a quantum circuit.

Quantum algorithms

GANs are formed of two neural networks, the generator and discriminator. As …