Masayoshi Son, founder and CEO of Japanese conglomerate SoftBank, said that artificial intelligence is still in its early stages of development and any discussion of a market bubble in this area is premature and unfounded. In his opinion, the technology has enormous potential that is only beginning to be revealed.
Masayoshi Son, founder and CEO of Japanese conglomerate SoftBank, said that artificial intelligence is still in its early stages of development and any discussion of a market bubble in this area is premature and unfounded. In his opinion, the technology has enormous potential that is only beginning to be revealed.
The entrepreneur announced this during SoftBank’s annual general meeting of shareholders, Reuters reports.
«I think calling it a bubble is blasphemy against AI. This is just the beginning. The potential of the technology is yet to be revealed,» the head of the conglomerate emphasized.
The recent boom in AI investment has significantly boosted the valuations of technology companies, leading some investors to question whether the trend will last. Meanwhile, SoftBank’s own stock has seen a significant increase in value thanks to the company’s large investment in ChatGPT developer OpenAI.
Son noted that he has weathered numerous market fluctuations during his career, including the dot-com crash of the early 2000s and the crisis during the coronavirus pandemic. Now the businessman is focused on a large-scale expansion of infrastructure for the development of future technologies. In particular, SoftBank is actively building data centers in the United States and developing the direction of robotics.
The SoftBank founder also announced the imminent launch of a new project in the field of robotics. The company’s «physical artificial intelligence factory» has already begun production of robots that mass-produce other robots. According to the entrepreneur, SoftBank has become the first in the world to launch such an automated process.
Speaking to shareholders, 68-year-old Son shared his plans for the future. He said he plans to run the company until he is at least 70 years old, in order to realize his main goal of creating artificial superintelligence (ASI). According to his calculations, such intelligence should be 10,000 times smarter than humans.
«I’ve become more greedy. I’d like to do more in the next 10-15 years. I’ll stay healthy as long as I can,» concluded Masayoshi Son.
