Enhancing Text Classification Through Quantum Transfer Learning: A Hybrid Quantum-Classical Approach With Complex Kernel Self-Attention Networks
Xiaoxiao Chen, Xiaoping Lou · IEEE Access · 2025
Quantum computing, with its unique principles such as superposition and entanglement, promises to transform various domains, including artificial intelligence. This study investigates the fusion of quantum computing with contemporary AI technologies through quantum transfer learning. We introduce the Complex Quantum Kernel Self-Attention Network (CQKSAN), a novel model that leverages quantum circuits and self-attention mechanisms to boost text classification performance. By applying quantum transfer learning, CQKSAN harnesses the strengths of pre-trained classical models and enhances them with quantum capabilities. Experimental results on multiple binary classification datasets demonstrate that CQKSAN achieves a more efficient learning process. Specifically, it improves training accuracy and validation accuracy by up to 24.31% and 28.35%, respectively, and increases the Matthews Correlation Coefficient by 113.10%. Moreover, CQKSAN consistently outperforms the BERT baseline in both training and validation accuracy across various datasets, showcasing its strong learning capability and generalization performance in handling tasks with diverse linguistic structures and complex semantics. Our findings underscore the potential of hybrid quantum-classical approaches, while also identifying the current limitations and paving the way for future research in fully quantum-based learning systems.