Teaching Quantum Machine Learning in Computer Science

Abstract

The field of quantum computing is rapidly growing, with near term applications immediately available for use. The application of quantum computing to machine learning (i.e., quantum machine learning) is similarly growing rapidly. The presence of noisy intermediate-scale quantum (NISQ) era computers is further enabling research in the area. Historically, the barrier to entry of quantum computing has been nearly insurmountable for computer science students, or any other students who lack a strong physics background. However, quantum computing and quantum machine learning are becoming increasingly accessible, regardless of background. The goal of this paper is to present and demonstrate that the field is accessible to computer science students and to provide a sample curriculum. This curriculum can be used in a standalone class or as part of another machine learning class, as the authors have done.