SoftBank’s Masayoshi Son says AGI will arrive ‘much earlier’ than he thought

SoftBank isn’t just part of the group investing $500 billion into Project Stargate to build American AI infrastructure capacity for OpenAI. It’s also making a Japanese joint venture with OpenAI, will spend $3 billion deploying OpenAI tech across SoftBank companies, and claims it will revolutionize business with AI agents through a new AI system called “Cristal intelligence.”

SoftBank CEO Masayoshi Son, who also invested billions in WeWork, claimed at an announcement event in Tokyo that artificial general intelligence, or AGI will come “much earlier” than his previous two- to three-year prediction, The Wall Street Journal reports. That could be helped, of course, by changes in the definition of AGI, as explained recently by his new partner, Sam Altman.

In the release, SoftBank highlights how AI agents “will automate everyday tasks” for knowledge work. SoftBank shared some vague examples of how it will use Cristal Intelligence at Arm and SoftBank Corp., which it owns: Arm, which designs many of the chips and servers used by AI companies, says it will use the tech to “drive innovation and boost productivity across the company,” while SoftBank Corp. plans to “automate over 100 million workflows” to “boost efficiency and enable the creation of new business opportunities within its ecosystem.”

Son announced Cristal Intelligence at an event in Tokyo where he held a crystal ball.

The SoftBank and OpenAI joint venture, called “SB OpenAI Japan,” will be owned 50-50 between the two companies. The joint venture will “market Cristal intelligence exclusively to major companies in Japan,” per the press release.