'This is a marriage of AI and quantum': New technology gives AI the power to feel surfaces for the 1st time - Keumars Afifi-Sabet, Live Science

Scientists have given artificial intelligence (AI) the capacity to "feel" surfaces for the first time — opening up a new dimension for deploying the technology in the real world. Tapping into quantum science, the scientists combined a photon-firing scanning laser with a new AI model trained to tell the difference between different surfaces imaged with the lasers. The system, outlined in a new study published Oct. 15 in the journal Applied Optics, blasts a series of short light pulses at a surface to "feel" it, before back-scattered photons, or particles of light, return carrying speckle noise — a type of flaw that manifests in imagery. This is normally considered detrimental to imaging, but in this case the researchers processed the noise artifacts using AI — which enabled the system to discern the topography of the object.

https://www.livescience.com/technology/artificial-intelligence/this-is-a-marriage-of-ai-and-quantum-new-technology-gives-ai-the-power-to-feel-surfaces-for-the-1st-time