SoftBank’s billionaire founder, Masayoshi Son is making a bold prediction that could change everything we know about artificial intelligence. While most tech companies are focused on creating AGI (artificial general intelligence), Son believes we should skip ahead to something much more powerful: ASI, or artificial superintelligence, which he says will be 10,000 times smarter than humans and arrive within the next decade.
What Makes ASI Different From Regular AI
Most people have heard about AGI – artificial intelligence that can think and learn like humans. But Son believes AGI isn’t revolutionary enough. “If AGI is not much smarter than humans, then we don’t need to change the way of living,” he explained to shareholders at SoftBank’s annual meeting.
ASI, however, is completely different. Son describes it as AI that will be 10,000 times more intelligent than even the smartest human genius. This isn’t just a little bit better – it’s like comparing a calculator to a supercomputer.
According to Son’s timeline, AGI will arrive in the next 3-5 years and be about 10 times smarter than humans. But by 2035, ASI will emerge with capabilities that are practically unimaginable by today’s standards.
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SoftBank’s Massive AI Investment Strategy
Son isn’t just making predictions – he’s putting his money where his mouth is. SoftBank has already invested $32 billion in OpenAI, the company behind ChatGPT, making it one of the largest single investments ever made in a private company.
“I’m all in on OpenAI,” Son declared, adding that he expects OpenAI to eventually become “the most valuable company on Earth” when it goes public.
SoftBank’s AI spending spree includes buying semiconductor companies worth billions of dollars. They purchased Ampere Computing for $6.5 billion and acquired UK-based AI chip maker Graphcore to build the infrastructure needed for superintelligent AI systems.
The Trillion-Dollar AI Revolution
Son believes the race for ASI will create enormous wealth – about $600 trillion in profits over the next decade. However, he warns that only a handful of companies will capture most of this money in a “winner takes all” scenario, similar to how Google, Microsoft, and Amazon dominate today’s internet.
To make ASI possible, Son estimates the world will need to spend $900 trillion on data centers and computer chips. This massive investment explains why he thinks current AI chip leader Nvidia is actually undervalued despite its huge stock price.
SoftBank wants to become the “organizer of the industry in the artificial superintelligence era,” positioning itself as the platform that connects all these super-smart AI systems together.
A Personal Mission for Son
For Son, creating ASI isn’t just business – it’s personal. “What was the reason for founding SoftBank? What was Masa Son’s purpose in being born? It may sound peculiar, but I believe I was destined to bring ASI to fruition,” he said.
This ambitious goal represents Son’s biggest bet yet, even larger than his famous early investment in Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba that made him billions of dollars.
While other tech leaders debate whether AGI will arrive in 5 or 10 years, Son is already looking beyond that to a future where artificial intelligence becomes so powerful it transforms human civilization itself
