SoftBank to invest $9 billion in AI projects

According to TapTechNews on May 27, as reported by the Financial Times on Sunday local time, SoftBank plans to invest 9 billion US dollars (TapTechNews note: currently about 65.34 billion yuan) in AI projects, aiming to accelerate its most thorough transformation process so far.

It is reported that SoftBank is still reserving firepower for larger transactions. The company's founder and CEO, Masayoshi Son, has always emphasized his belief in artificial intelligence and the necessity of reshaping the company. In the past 12 months since Masayoshi Son announced that SoftBank was ready to launch a counterattack, SoftBank's investment and committed expenditures have more than doubled compared to previous years, reaching 8.9 billion US dollars (currently about 64.614 billion yuan). SoftBank said that if there is a suitable super-large transaction, it is willing to maintain or even exceed this amount.

Masayoshi Son believes that artificial intelligence will be the source of future growth, and he is trying to reshape SoftBank and its adventurous Vision Funds in order to continue to play a role in what he considers the next stage of humanity.

According to a previous report by TapTechNews, Masayoshi Son said in October last year that he believes that general artificial intelligence (AGI) will be achieved within 10 years. He believes that generative artificial intelligence such as ChatGPT is developing rapidly, and AGI is believed to be 10 times smarter in the future than the sum of all human wisdom.