What is our primary use case?
My main use case for D-Wave Leap is to compare it to machine learning, so I was looking for use cases in the genetic genomics area mainly and I wanted to test the potential of the tool in terms of knowing which leverages or features influence more the output of different medical cases.
A quick, specific example of how I use D-Wave Leap for that comparison in a genomic scenario is that I have more than 100 machine learning models in production right now, with all the features, validations, evaluations, and everything. I simply check and use D-Wave Leap as a contrafactual, as another tool to see if I get the same results, and the most important thing for me is explainability. I want to know if the output is the same, which in most cases it is, but it changed the view of the features that have more weight in those outputs, and in many genomic diseases I have compared more than 10 machine learning models versus D-Wave Leap.
How has it helped my organization?
D-Wave Leap has impacted my organization positively, although I really choose the tools that we use. In this case, D-Wave Leap was an exploration I did by myself that I do not pass on to my team because the settings and use cases in our specific case, which is genomics, were not really clear, so we did not adopt the technology.
Since D-Wave Leap was not adopted by my team, I noticed personal benefits, where the main thing that came to my mind was the computational power and speed, allowing many experiments or models running at the same time. I think this is a main point for companies that want to develop different experiments in life sciences, and that is perhaps a change of paradigm.
What is most valuable?
The best feature that D-Wave Leap offers in my experience is computational power; that is why I initially tried it, and in that sense, it is great, but I think usability is the weakest part in my opinion.
Regarding computation power as a standout feature, D-Wave Leap has helped me with speed and handling complex data sets. I was really happy with the machine learning tools timeline since I start real computation and comparing different machine learning models. When I saw D-Wave Leap's speed in computation, it is much faster, making it the beauty of D-Wave Leap. Once everything is set, it could be really helpful, and explainability is also a little bit different from what I am using in machine learning and for life sciences, I think that is the most important part for me.
Regarding D-Wave Leap's AI capabilities, I think it has taken care of governance and security, which is a key part, especially in life science. Right now, it is a basic feature, so I see that it is covered, and it is okay.
What needs improvement?
I think that is the same situation that happened with AWS for machine learning, where you have to set up a complex environment and sometimes you give up, needing something that is ready to go and plug and play. That is the main barrier for using D-Wave Leap in my case.
D-Wave Leap can be improved in setup and usability. I did the courses available on your website, and for a scientist, especially in life science, we need to understand what the tool does and how it works since we do not appreciate black boxes. Maybe that could be improved, as you have done a good job explaining your tool, but it could be more specific and less in development.
Regarding improvements around documentation, support, or other aspects of D-Wave Leap, maybe it is understanding that quantum computing for the general population is still far from being a reality. Understanding what you are trying to do is crucial, so it is about perfecting the documentation and clarifying the future outcomes.
The accuracy and reliability of outputs from D-Wave Leap have me feeling uncertain. While I understand the core, I have doubts in some cases about the calculations and the science behind them, which is why I gave it a seven, wanting a deep knowledge of what is in the core and engine of the tool.
Those are the main drawbacks for D-Wave Leap.
For how long have I used the solution?
I knew about D-Wave Leap approximately 10 years ago, but I am more focused on machine learning, so I was interested. I have been using it in this period of 10 years, but not with the same intensity as some machine learning tools, but approximately five years in total.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
D-Wave Leap is stable in my experience, functioning really well and everything, so I think it is a great product.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
As for scalability, we need to do big integrations with hospitals and different healthcare and life science actors, but we have not tried it on a larger scale. I was trying it at a small scale by myself, and while we have not tried API connections yet, it seems ready.
How are customer service and support?
The customer support of D-Wave Leap was efficient. I just had to use it for a little issue about the password, and it was fast and secure, everything was fine.
I would rate the customer support a nine.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
D-Wave Leap was the first tool I knew and it seemed to be the one I wanted to use, but right now it is not exactly what we need, and maybe in the future it will be.
How was the initial setup?
My main concern is the preliminary setting of the environment where I have to work, whereas in machine learning I directly start with the tool and start with the computation, calculations, and even data wrangling. With D-Wave Leap, I have to set up a certain environment that I think is a little bit rough and you lose some focus and time.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
My experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing was all good because it was a long time ago, where there were really good offers, encouraging people to try it, and in that case, everything was smooth.
Which other solutions did I evaluate?
Before choosing D-Wave Leap, I did not evaluate other options, as I directly knew who was behind it, making it my first and only choice.
What other advice do I have?
On a scale of 1 to 10, I would rate D-Wave Leap a seven.
I give it a seven because the computation is really good, with great speed and time for analyzing and running models and calculations, but I do not go to 8, 9, or 10 because of the issues I already explained, such as setting up and really understanding the core and engine of the tool, which I believe is still in development and will become a great tool over time.
As for how D-Wave Leap is deployed in our organization, we have a private cloud and have changed different providers, but we have a private cloud, and for some specific projects, we have on-premise as well.
For our private cloud, we use AWS, and another part of the company uses Microsoft.
I would advise others looking into using D-Wave Leap to have clearly defined use cases and determine if they need real computational power, as that is when they would find D-Wave Leap really useful. If not, they might find a tool that is not for them.