Artificial Super-Intelligence


The billionaire argued that every investment he’s made throughout his career, from Uber to Alibaba, was all just a “warm-up” for his AI investments. “Realizing ASI is my only focus,” he said, the Financial Times first reported. 

This extreme AI focus follows SoftBank’s promise to make five separate large-scale AI investments of at least $1 billion in May. Son had already backed multiple AI companies before the announcement—including his $200 million into Tempus AI, a medical-data analysis startup in April—but now the pace seems to have picked up. 

SoftBank’s latest bet came just this week, when it backed the trendy AI internet search startup Perplexity AI, which hopes to compete with the likes of Google, at a $3 billion valuation, per Bloomberg.

In his meeting with shareholders last week, Son also highlighted opportunities in autonomous driving, AI robotics, data centers, and more that he will be looking into moving forward. In his typical style, the billionaire then launched into a heartfelt, introspective discussion of his investing life.

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