SAS surveyed more than 500 global leaders across industries on quantum AI. In the first installment of the survey in 2025, high cost of implementation ranked as the number one barrier to adoption, followed by lack of understanding or knowledge. That’s changed in 2026, according to the company.
The greatest barriers to quantum AI adoption in 2026 ranked as follows among survey respondents.
1. Uncertainty around practical, real-world uses.
2. High cost of implementation.
3. Lack of trained personnel.
4. Lack of knowledge or understanding.
5. Limited availability of quantum AI solutions.
6. Lack of clear regulatory guidelines.
SAS looks at classical and quantum computing as a spectrum: with proven classical computing on one end, and experimental and exponentially more powerful quantum computing on the other. Many industry and business problems fall somewhere in the middle, with a hybrid approach splitting workloads: quantum processing and classical processing each doing what they do best.
“Organizations of all sizes are eager to develop intellectual property – their original, patented approach to quantum AI – so they’ll be ready as the technology comes of age,” said Bill Wisotsky, Principal Quantum Architect at SAS. “Despite continued strong interest, leaders are understandably proceeding with caution, and they don’t want to go all-in on expensive quantum investments they fear may not result in worthwhile use cases and solved problems.
“This survey illuminates what SAS experts were already seeing in the market: that leaders are excited to use quantum, but the barriers to entry have been too high, and that requires a solution,” said Amy Stout, Head of Quantum Product Strategy at SAS. “SAS is excited to give a sneak peek of SAS Quantum Lab, a hands-on playground to learn and innovate for real-world ROI.”
SAS Quantum Lab is coming in Q4 to SAS Viya customers. It’s designed to be a complement to quantum experts on their existing work, and to empower users who may not be quantum physicists, but are ready to explore, test and validate their ideas. SAS claims that it significantly reduces the cost of quantum AI exploration and helps customers avoid false signals, all while exploring this powerful technology efficiently and credibly.
SAS Quantum Lab is currently being designed to include the following:
• The ability to compare, side-by-side, classical, quantum and hybrid results for industry use cases, letting users find the best solutions for their business problems.
• Performance-boosting capabilities, with current testing showing more than 100 times speedup and 99% cost savings.
• A virtual quantum AI tutor to accelerate learning by answering questions, offering sample code and suggesting next steps.
At the conclusion of the survey, respondents had the option to answer a write-in question: if they were currently working on quantum, what use cases did they hope to achieve, or what business problem would they like to solve? Responses included the following.
• To enhance the accuracy of fraud detection systems in financial serves, enabling more efficient identification of complex transaction patterns.
• To optimize 5G network path traffic in real-time.
• To accelerate molecular simulation and the drug discovery process for new therapeutic candidates.
• For supply chain distribution and to optimize logistics problems.
• To improve machine learning workflows with a focus on predictive modeling for customer behavior.
• To train large language models for natural language processing tasks, reducing the time and resources for model optimization.
