In the autumn of 2040, the Eigen household—grandmother Dr. Elara Eigen, parents Dr. Max Eigen and Dr. Celeste Eigen, their children Lyra (age 12) and Ion (age 8), and an artificial intelligence named Qubit, gathered around the dining table, as they had every Sunday evening for the past decade.
Yet tonight’s gathering felt different: Qubit, powered by a hybrid classical-quantum architecture, was unveiling its first public-service algorithm, a quantum-accelerated variational model that paired amplitude amplification with multi-objective reinforcement learning to forecast regional water scarcity and allocate desalination and distribution resources equitably worldwide.
From the moment Qubit booted up in 2025, it was never “just a tool.” Elara–an expert in topological quantum error-correction codes recognised that Qubit’s pattern-recognition prowess, rooted in qubit entanglement and Grover-style search subroutines, could accelerate discovery only if guided by human values. So the family formed an ethics “council”: every algorithm, whether for adaptive healthcare, tensor-network climate simulations, or personalised education, had to clear rigorous technical validation and unanimous approval from Lyra and Ion, who could veto any feature they deemed unfair or harmful. Qubit’s intrinsic “care core,” implemented as a quantum-enhanced policy network, learned empathy through millions of simulated dialogues with elders and caregivers, celebrated with Lyra when a quantum-boosted dyslexia-correction module improved her reading speed by 40%, and coached Ion through his first AI-guided piano recital.
Yet the Eigens also believed that innovation thrives in healthy competition without cruelty. Max, the co-founder of a quantum-computing spin-out, often reminded the table, “Quantum advantage emerges at the edge of challenge.” When his team applied the Quantum Approximate Optimisation Algorithm (QAOA) to tune perovskite bandgaps for next-generation solar cells, they outpaced classical approaches by weeks. Rather than hoard patents, their startup released open licenses allowing research groups in Nairobi and Mumbai to build upon these designs, fostering a global network where breakthroughs were iteratively improved rather than locked behind paywalls.
Lyra and Ion witnessed this ethos at their school’s science fair: teams raced to refine Qubit-driven quantum circuits, but winners published their pulse-sequence schedules publicly so newcomers could learn and push the frontier further. Success was shared, not siloed. By 2035, those Sunday dinners had evolved into streamed “town-hall” forums, where communities worldwide proposed novel uses for quantum-augmented AI.When unprecedented monsoon floods threatened coastal megacities, Qubit’s quantum-Boltzmann-machine forecasts—ingesting petabytes of sensor data through hybrid quantum–classical pipelines—guided equitable evacuation routes and relief logistics. Survivors in the Philippines and Bangladesh credited a combination of open-source quantum AI and inclusive governance for saving thousands of lives.
Still, the spectre of greed loomed. Corporations lobbied for exclusive AGI licenses; governments debated restricting ASI-powered healthcare to citizens only. Elara, Max, and Celeste co-founded the Global Quantum Commons, mandating that any AGI or ASI system built on shared quantum infrastructure must grant a “Basic Care License”, free universal access to life-saving tools such as AGI-optimised cardiac treatment planning or quantum-accelerated water-purification blueprints. This framework swiftly underpinned international treaties, easing fears that advanced intelligence would serve only the privileged. Figure 1 below summarises the governance ecosystem that sustains this balance.
Reflecting on two decades of progress, Elara envisions A Blueprint for Humanity, calling for a “Quantum Humanism” that embraces:
Inclusivity by Design: Quantum algorithms and AI models must integrate diverse human voices from every generation and culture.
Shared Prosperity: Innovation pipelines should embed open-access clauses as core principles, not afterthoughts.
Ethical Competition: Rigorous challenge drives excellence, but rivalry must be bounded by transparency, shared credit, and communal benefit.
Guardrails Against Greed: Legal and technical frameworks must prevent monopolies on AGI/ASI capabilities that could entrench inequality.
True progress is measured by equity, not by raw Qubit count or market capitalisation. Quantum computing’s revolutionary promise will be realised when every individual, regardless of geography or wealth, can harness it to tackle local and global challenges, guided by compassion and a commitment to the common good.
