Aziz Huq and Lior Strahilevitz Share Legal Insights at Chicago Quantum Exchange Law and Technology Event
Panel discussion at UChicago Law kicks off interdisciplinary CQE–led effort aimed at strengthening growing field
Quantum technologies are poised to transform society: in the coming years, we could see quantum sensors capable of detecting disease at the very earliest stages; quantum networks that offer provably secure financial and medical record transfers; and eventually quantum computers that could, in just minutes, perform analyses that would take today’s supercomputers millions of years.
But comprehensive legal frameworks aimed at advancing quantum innovation are nascent, raising questions about whether current laws will be adequate to address quantum-specific concerns related to intellectual property, antitrust, liability, privacy, and more — and whether they achieve the right balance between protecting US interests and enabling the international collaborations that are critical to field’s advancement. Researchers who rely on foreign equipment, international talent, and cross-border collaborations already face obstacles that some worry could impede progress.
These were among the issues discussed at a panel organized by the Chicago Quantum Exchange (CQE) last month at the University of Chicago Law School. The event, which focused most heavily on how the law should balance international collaboration and the protection of US interests, brought three leading University of Chicago faculty together: Aziz Huq, the Frank and Bernice J. Greenberg Professor of Law; Lior Strahilevitz, the Sidley Austin Professor of Law; and David Awschalom, the Liew Family Professor of Molecular Engineering and Physics at UChicago’s Pritzker School of Molecular Engineering, senior scientist at Argonne National Laboratory, and director of the CQE. The discussion was moderated by Robert W. Karr Jr., a partner at Barnes & Thornburg LLP who co-chairs the firm’s Quantum Technology Industry Group.
It was the first step in a broader effort to examine the how legal and regulatory frameworks can help to advance US quantum research, commercialization, and workforce development. The work will include contributions by industry experts, legal scholars, scientists, and others.
“Quantum technology is in a critical place right now as applications approach commercial viability,” Awschalom said after the event. “The field’s enormous technological and economic potential is within view, and the science is advancing more rapidly than expected. Now is the time for conversations about how we can balance protection and collaboration in a way that encourages, not stifles, innovation.”
Existing US regulations aimed at quantum technologies often focus on interactions with the rest of world — for example, how we share and review ideas, educate and hire talent, fund joint projects, and exchange goods. The US has entered into bilateral agreements with nearly a dozen countries and has coordinated export controls with those and others. But even the 2018 National Quantum Initiative Act, which focused on accelerating quantum research and development and is up for reauthorization, only laid the groundwork for a comprehensive regulatory regime. Some regulations have been implemented, including export controls on quantum technologies and encryption standards aimed at protecting government agencies and contractors for future attacks by quantum computers. Restrictions, however, can sometimes impede progress, impacting whom researchers hire, how they collaborate, and even how they equip their labs.
“In the field of quantum technology, much of the instrumentation used in our laboratories comes from outside the United States,” Awschalom told the audience. “From cryogenics to photonics, we’re heavily dependent on international trade in this field.”
Protecting National Security
Protectionist measures are tied to serious national security concerns: Quantum computers, once sufficiently advanced, will be able to break certain key encryptions currently used by institutions and governments all over the world. Quantum communication aims to transmit information in a way that is completely unhackable, where the information being sent cannot be accessed except by the intended recipient. Quantum sensors have applications spanning navigation to medicine including uses in defense.
The “dual-use” nature of quantum technologies means it is necessary for the US to keep its assets secure.
In September 2024, the US Commerce Department imposed export controls on certain emerging technologies, including quantum computing. Quantum computers are now considered “critical technologies,” which means sales and transfers involving their components, materials, or software now require filing for a license with the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS).
But because international cooperation is so central to the field’s advancement, a more nuanced approach may be needed, panelists said.
Huq referred to the work of political scientist Jeffrey Ding, who argued that simply developing groundbreaking technology isn’t enough to ensure economic advantage. Instead, solid infrastructure and shared norms are what enable a nation to reap economic success.
“In the absence of [infrastructure and shared norms] it is very unlikely that innovation alone is going to generate economic prosperity or productivity,” Huq said. “If you think Ding’s analysis is right … then one of the problems with export controls is that [they are] focused upon the wrong locus with respect to the conditions under which technology will diffuse and be adopted in ways that generate new kinds of productivity. The principal thing that [the export controls are] focused on is restricting the flow of ideas, capital, and goods across borders.”
A more complicated issue is “deemed exports,” or the sharing of technology or data with a foreign national within the United States. This can be as general as a researcher verbally discussing non-public research data with an international employee, which is then deemed to be an export to that employee's country, even if the conversation takes place in a lab in Chicago. Huq was unsure how the recent export control orders would affect deemed exports in the field of quantum technology.
“It's not clear to me, looking at these export controls on their face and looking at the technologies, what the importance is of First Amendment protections in this field,” Huq said. “And I would flag that one example of the application of First Amendment rules might be the question of whether certain kinds of academic conversations can occur within labs, say, between a US citizen and a green card holder who is also a national of a country that is deemed to be of concern by the government—the most obvious example is China. It's not clear to me that those conversations which might be swept under the deemed export element of the September regulations are free of constitutional protection.”
Cross-border collaborations touch many aspects of innovation, including the exchange of ideas, technology, and students.
“International partnerships help us enormously,” Awschalom said, citing current and future agreements with Japan, France, and Switzerland as examples.
Timing Matters
Regulating too early can also stifle innovation, said Strahilevitz, contrasting the legal approach of the European Union with that of the United States.
“Congress is very slow relative to our friends in Brussels,” he said. “It tends to wait until a technology is mature before it starts thinking about regulating. Early regulation can have real costs for innovation in Europe, but there are upsides from the perspective of protecting individual privacy and dignitary interests. The personalization of information processing, law enforcement uses, even things like managing critical infrastructure through traffic control or energy grids are all [quantum computing] applications where enough personal data comes into play that European law winds up being a real impediment to some of this development, potentially giving a comparative advantage to the United States. But it also increases threat levels in the United States, because there’s more of a wild, wild west factor here.”
The panel discussion drew attendees from across the UChicago campus, including from the sciences, law, and business, as well as from quantum technology companies.
"What the Chicago Quantum Exchange is trying to do is engage the legal profession, academia, and others who can help understand where we are today and how the law can work in tandem to protect what is being built — and possibly even accelerate it," Karr said. “When we're looking at cutting-edge technologies that could change the way we act, behave, learn, and grow, regulations can impact that both positively and negatively.”
This story was adapted from one that first appeared on the Chicago Quantum Exchange website.