ChatGPT maker OpenAI has cash, thanks to the likes of Masayoshi Son’s SoftBank (SFTBF). The Japanese conglomerate took in $500 million during the latest round of financing the company led by Sam Altman at a staggering $157 billion. Announced yesterday (October 2) and led by Thrive Capital, the $6.6 billion round also attracted AI-focused companies such as Microsoft ( MSFT ) and Nvidia ( NVDA ) as well as investment firms such as Tiger Global Management , ARK Invest and Altimeter Capital.
Son did not specifically mention his investment when he spoke today (Oct. 3) at the SoftBank World 2024 conference. But he praised OpenAI and the ability of the company’s recently released GPT-o1 AI models, codenamed “Strawberry,” which he described as “enhancing the ability to think.” Son said he recently tested the thinking model by asking it a series of tough questions, such as how to grow his savings account to 100 million Japanese yen ($681,000), and was impressed by its answers. Son, currently the second richest person in Japan, is estimated to be worth $31.4 billion.
AI is on its way to becoming more powerful in the near future, Son said. His vision for AI includes agents that will be able to perform a variety of daily tasks, from grocery shopping and reservations to helping with investments and monitoring the health of family members. “This technology will develop to the point where your happiness will be its greatest reward,” said Son, adding that human happiness will be “the greatest reward” for those who work for man.
Such comments do not ring true for Son, who is known for his endless optimism when it comes to technological advancements. This attitude has led SoftBank’s Vision Funds to make technology bets that often yield big gains or losses. During the dot-com crash, for example, SoftBank lost $170 billion on its Internet investments. Son also squandered $14 billion after backing the now-bankrupt WeWork. While Son has spent the past few years on the low following a string of losses, he told investors last year that SoftBank was continuing in “trial mode” and preparing to invest heavily in AI, having raised more than $35 billion since 2020.
According to Son, AI advancements will come fast and furious. Artificial general intelligence (AGI), a type of AI similar to human intelligence, will be realized in the next two to three years, Son said at today’s event. And artificial superintelligence, (ASI), which is 10,000 times more powerful than humans, can be expected to be achieved in ten years, he said. Noting that the human brain contains about 100 billion synaptic connections, referring to the points where nerves communicate, Son said that “the productive parameters of AI—the size of these synapses—are expanding at a blazing speed.” (GPT-4 reportedly has 1.7 trillion parameters.)
Leveraging on tech talent, SoftBank’s CEO has ambitious plans to transform his conglomerate into an AI powerhouse. SoftBank’s AI strategy is currently bolstered by Arm, the UK-based chip designer it acquired for $32 billion in 2016. Son has previously stated his desire to eventually establish a variety of AI-focused divisions within SoftBank, complete with divisions dedicated to chip chips. , data centers and industrial robots. Besides SoftBank’s recent support of OpenAI, the conglomerate in 2024 alone also invested in Perplexity AI, an AI-powered search startup, and acquired Graphcore, a chipmaker and rival of Nvidia.
