SoftBank Group Corp.'s CEO Masayoshi Son on Wednesday urged Japanese companies to take more advantage of artificial intelligence, warning there will be "a critical difference" in firms' competitiveness depending on how willing they are to embrace the technology.
Speaking at a company event, Son voiced concern about many Japanese companies banning use of ChatGPT, a chatbot developed by U.S. tech firm OpenAI, for fear of data leaks and other potential risks.
"I think this is the biggest problem for Japanese companies," Son said of the trend. "It's either utilizing AI or being left behind."
His remarks come as SoftBank, a conglomerate managing global investment funds, is preparing to aggressively invest in AI-related companies after posting massive losses for two years in a row.
The investment giant's war chest has recently expanded thanks to the Nasdaq listing last month of its chip designing subsidiary Arm Holdings Plc. Son says the British unit will also play a leading role in the evolution of AI with demand for the power-saving chips it designs sure to increase significantly.
Son added he expects artificial general intelligence, a type of AI able to work and think like a human, to arrive in around 10 years.
Unlike current AI, AGI should be able to handle a broad range of tasks better than humans, he said.
"It will fundamentally change not just all the industries but also education, one's attitude toward life, the way society is and human relations," he said.
Son compared the current situation surrounding AI to the emergence of the internet a few decades ago, saying Japanese companies that made light of the technology gradually lost their global presence and gave way to fast-growing U.S. tech companies such as Google LLC and Amazon.com Inc.
"AI is not our enemy. It's our friend and partner. Why ban it?" Son said.
