The founder and CEO of Japanese investment group SoftBank, Masayoshi Son, estimates that artificial intelligence will be 1 to 10 times smarter than humans by 2030, and 10,000 times smarter by 2035.
Son’s comments came during Softbank’s annual meeting in Tokyo on June 21. There, he addressed employees in a so-called emotional speech outlining the company’s priorities for the future.
Super artificial intelligence
The main takeaway from Son’s comment appears to be that SoftBank is dedicated to developing an “artificial superintelligence” (ASI) that will be capable of upending human life as we know it.
During his speech, Sun discussed both artificial general intelligence (AGI) and ASI. The difference between the two, according to the SoftBank CEO, is that an AGI system would exhibit the equivalent of human “genius”, up to a factor of 10.
An ASI, on the other hand, is said to have 10,000 times the intelligence or abilities of a human – which is apparently beyond the limited capabilities of the human brain.
It should be noted that there is currently no scientific consensus on what an AGI or ASI would be capable of or whether such an entity is possible with modern technology. So far, AI systems capable of thinking on a human level remain a theory.
Stock market reaction
Son then discussed the future and death of SoftBank, which may have spooked some investors since the company saw its shares fall more than 3% when the Tokyo Stock Exchange closed after the meeting.
In a video of the event seen by Cointelegraph, Son said that two years ago he realized he was “getting older” and seemed to want to do more with his life before it ended.
he added:
“For what purpose was SoftBank created? For what purpose was Masa Son born? This may sound strange, but I think I was born to understand ASI. “I’m very serious about this.”
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