According to Curioni, we're on the cusp of two simultaneous technological revolutions which in combination will fundamentally change how the world uses computers to solve difficult problems.

There have only been two comparable developments in computing history, Curioni contends - the microprocessor and the internet - but those breakthroughs happened decades apart. In contrast the current contenders, AI and quantum computing, are evolving in tandem. "We are really going through two of the largest transformational technological changes in IT in the past 30 years," he said during a media event in November.