The profession that can’t figure out how to avoid citing fake cases from artificial intelligence will soon deal with a technology far more revolutionary. This month, Google unveiled its new Willow chip, heralding a significant leap in quantum computing. Dare we say a Quantum Leap? No, we dare not.

Still, this is a science that confused the hell out of Einstein so we just can’t wait to see how lawyers screw this one up!

Quantum computing replacing binary ones-and-zeroes computing with qubits that can simultaneously behave as ones and zeroes. It’s the technological equivalent of being able to answer “it depends” and we all know how important that is for legal reasoning. Being able to use a qubit to exist as 0-0, 0-1, 1-1, and 1-0 all at the same time opens the door to an exponential explosion in computing power as qubits are stacked atop each other. Google’s announcement claimed that Willow took 5 minutes to complete a computation that today’s fastest supercomputer would crack in 10 septillion years.

Let’s round it up to 6 minutes and bill it as “0.1 — further work.”

That’s why it feels like the next big thing for the profession — starting as early as 2025 — will be quantum computing. Generative AI enjoyed a couple years in the spotlight and we all had a lot of fun. It drove every legal technology conversation as we aired all our daydreams about AI’s potential to radically alter the profession. Even though its current, far from “smart” iteration is likely as good as it gets, it’s still a powerful tool for automating rote tasks and big data crunching — abilities that could end the stranglehold of the billable hour (video). But it’s not a robot lawyer and won’t be without revolutions in other fields of tech.

However, quantum computing could go a long way toward accelerating AI. Even without harnessing dilithium crystals to provide the levels of power needed to move AI beyond its “glorified Clippy” stage, quantum computing can supercharge the algorithms behind AI tech. As Foreign Policy columnist Vivek Wadhwa and director of the Stanford Center for Responsible Quantum Technology Mauritz Kop noted in 2022, “artificial intelligence is as self-aware as a paper clip” but quantum computing could allow large language models to utilize exponentially more parameters and learn it all faster and using less energy.

That said, the impact this technology has on lawyers will be felt more in cybersecurity than AI. Cybersecurity was already set to be a hot topic for lawyers in 2025 with a new administration committed to starting a trade war with America’s most technologically advanced adversaries while simultaneously threatening to walk away from global cyber commitments, slash funding for the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, and place Homeland Security under the stewardship of the only governor who turned down free cybersecurity money.

But she can protect America from adorable puppies, so there’s that.

As if the U.S. — and by extension, the Western corporate world — wasn’t exposed enough, advances in quantum computing would allow hackers to brute force blow through existing security protocols. Eventually, quantum computing will also allow unbreakable security when the tech creates ever changing and improbably dense encryptions to stay ahead.

Unfortunately, the damage may already be done without you knowing it.

Hacking entities are suspected of engaging in “hack now, decrypt later” tactics, gathering well-secured data now in the hope of cracking it open once burgeoning technology delivers that power. Law firms have long been viewed as a soft underbelly of security — see Panama Papers — but quantum computing risks turning even the most responsible firms into targets when today’s top-of-the-line security is able to be cracked within minutes.

Beyond data privacy, quantum computing opens a can of intellectual property worms:

The rapid processing speed of quantum computers could facilitate the infringement of intellectual property rights by allowing the copying and modification of large amounts of data almost instantaneously. Lawyers must be alert to the evolution of intellectual property laws and work on new legal strategies to protect their clients’ rights in this new technological environment.

And if you thought the ownership of a code only prompted by a human but created by existing AI raised IP concerns, wait until a quantum-powered algorithm is inventing new pharmaceuticals.

Kop sees an urgent need for drafting legal and regulatory frameworks before this technology is fully realized… which isn’t that far off:

And many of the perils and risks are unknown because they are beyond our current imagination. Breaking cryptography and classical data security, that’s the one “use case” people are most afraid of right now. We call that “Q-Day”, the day when quantum computers suddenly break the Internet. And we are looking at a time frame of just three years for that, so there is tremendous urgency here to get things right, both on the software and hardware side of things. And then there are huge risks associated with authoritarianism and state surveillance, because quantum is ubiquitous and potentially dual use. Quantum Artificial Intelligence (QAI) will be like AI on steroids. It’s a dictator’s dream.

“Three years,” “break the internet,” and “dictator’s dream” amount to a troubling game of Mad Libs.

Kop said that in April when quantum computing was still held in check. Google’s saying it’s gotten quantum errors — the drift into wrongness that can happen as all this spooky action heaps upon itself — below threshold, meaning the more qubits they’re adding, the fewer errors they’re getting.

Will 2025 be the year of quantum? It might still be slightly early. But Kop’s warning that legal needs to get on top of this technology before it reaches full realization means 2025 should be the year of quantum for the legal industry.

Earlier: For The Love Of All That Is Holy, Stop Blaming ChatGPT For This Bad Brief
Generative AI… What If This Is As Good As It Gets?

Joe Patrice is a senior editor at Above the Law and co-host of Thinking Like A Lawyer. Feel free to email any tips, questions, or comments. Follow him on Twitter or Bluesky if you’re interested in law, politics, and a healthy dose of college sports news. Joe also serves as a Managing Director at RPN Executive Search.