Exploring Public Discourse on Quantum Technology: Overlooking Societal Implications?

As quantum computing technologies (QCTs) move towards commercialization, understanding public perceptions and stakeholder narratives becomes crucial for their responsible development and integration into society. This paper examines how this technology is presented across media, business, and government documents using thematic narrative analysis. Our research design utilizes an extensive dataset of 165 business reports, 36 government documents, and 2,331 media articles published over the past 20 years. We employ a computational social science approach, combining BERTopic modeling with qualitative assessment to extract themes and narratives. The findings show that public discourse on quantum technology (QT) reflects prevailing social and political agendas, focusing on technical and commercial potential, global conflicts, national strategies, and social issues. Media articles provide the most balanced coverage, while business and government discourses often overlook societal implications. We emphasize the importance of informed and broad public discourse to ensure equitable and beneficial outcomes for society.