Real qubits in the loop — only when you ask
Bee submits real circuits to IBM quantum hardware for opt-in workloads on Hive and Swarm. Chat never routes through a QPU silently, and the simulator is free for development.
What the integration actually is
Bee's quantum module submits circuits to IBM Heron r2 processors — 156-qubit superconducting hardware — through the qiskit-ibm-runtime stack, with a local statevector simulator as the free development fallback. It is working, verifiable integration code, documented publicly on the /quantum page.
The claim is scoped deliberately: quantum reasoning is opt-in per request on the tiers that carry it (Hive and Swarm), and no chat request is ever routed through quantum hardware implicitly.
How a quantum-assisted pass works
- →Classical reasoning produces N candidate decisions.
- →Candidates encode into qubit amplitudes, held in superposition.
- →Interference (QAOA / amplitude amplification) amplifies the most consistent candidate.
- →Measurement collapses to the selected candidate, with confidence expressed as a probability.
From simulator to hardware
Development runs free on the local statevector simulator. When a workload warrants real hardware, the Quantum Hardware Pack — available on Hive and above — runs metered jobs on IBM QPUs through a dedicated endpoint, and Swarm is eligible for the Pack Pro tier. Enclave contracts can include dedicated quantum allocation.
The same platform handles the classical side: 256K context, tool calling, JSON mode, and document retrieval on the tiers that serve them, so quantum-assisted experiments live inside a normal engineering workflow.
Why the honesty matters here especially
“Quantum” is the most over-claimed word in computing. Bee's approach is to publish exactly what runs where — named IBM backends, qubit counts, the simulator fallback, and the opt-in boundary — so a technical evaluator can verify the integration instead of taking a slogan on faith.
Frequently asked questions
- Is every Bee response quantum-enhanced?
- No — and we state that plainly. Quantum reasoning is opt-in per request on Hive and Swarm. Ordinary chat requests never touch quantum hardware.
- Is it real quantum hardware or a simulator?
- Both, by explicit choice: a free local statevector simulator for development, and real IBM Heron r2 processors (156 qubits) for metered Quantum Hardware Pack jobs.
- Which plans include quantum access?
- The Quantum Hardware Pack is available on Hive and above, with Pack Pro eligibility on Swarm and dedicated quantum allocation available on Enclave contracts.
- What workloads suit quantum-assisted reasoning today?
- Candidate-selection and optimisation-shaped experiments — the QAOA and amplitude-amplification patterns — plus research and teaching workloads that need real hardware behind the same API as the classical stack.
- How is this different from post-quantum cryptography?
- They're separate capabilities: quantum reasoning uses quantum computers; post-quantum cryptography defends against them. Bee ships both, documented separately.
Related
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