SoftBank Group chairman and CEO Masayoshi Son said Wednesday (June 28) the firm was planning to shift from "defense mode" to "offense mode" to capitalize on the AI boom.
In the group's annual general meeting, he talked about some recent "big mistakes" he had, including his WeWork debacle in 2019. However, he primarily focused his presentation on artificial intelligence (AI) and its cosmic significance. The presentation also came with visuals illustrating what he called the "birth of superhuman" with the help of AI technology.
Son discussed his emotional relationship with tech, specifically ChatGPT, which he admitted became one of his top advisors. He added he broke down in tears for several days in October 2022 because he felt his career was not fulfilling enough.
"There were times when I felt a real emptiness," he said. "I had a big cry. The tears didn't stop for days."
After his apparent existential crisis, he narrated he emerged from it with a clear vision that he wanted to become "an architect, to design the future of humanity," the Financial Times reported.
Son: Aggressive AI Investment Must Begin
The SoftBank boss went on to convey how seriously he was taking and working with AI, saying he wanted to design the future with AI, admitting he came up with over 600 new inventions since October. He explained he was feeding ChatGPT's chatbot with ideas and hoping to get its approval.
"After we repeated this several dozen times, I really felt great because my idea was praised as feasible and wonderful," Son added.
The presentation also showed the concept of "Evolution Speed (illustrative)," which depicted a graph of human evolution. The graph went flat from the birth of mankind to the agricultural revolution, and the industrial and information revolutions only raised the figure a bit. Then, the line abruptly skyrocketed in his projected future due to what he called the "Birth of Superhuman," thanks to AI. Son added AI would solve problems mankind could not and promised a "society without stoppage from natural disasters."
With this presentation, Son announced his intention for the company to aggressively invest in tech and AI development through its venture capital (VC) firm Vision Fund. "We would like to be [in] the leading position for the AI revolution," he added.
