Few people spot the next big trend as consistently as Masayoshi Son. Under his leadership, Japan’s SoftBank pivoted from an internet broadband provider into a mobile phone network company and most recently an investment giant boasting assets worth $180 billion. Today, Son is pivoting again into what he believes will be the key source of future growth: AI, which he’s backing with $9 billion a year in investments. In May, SoftBank led an investment of over $1 billion into British self-driving car start-up Wayve, in Europe’s largest AI deal to date. Under the majority ownership of Softbank, leading semiconductor firm Arm is also rolling out a new generation of AI-enabled chips. But Son is not just a champion of AI—he’s embraced the technology with the zeal of a convert, backing ASI, or artificial super intelligence, to become “10,000 times smarter” than humans in a decade. “Softbank was founded to realize ASI,” he told an annual shareholder’s meeting in June. “Masayoshi Son was born to realize ASI.”
Buy your copy of the TIME100 AI issue here
More Must-Reads from TIME
- L.A. Fires Show Reality of 1.5°C of Warming
- How Canada Fell Out of Love With Trudeau
- Trump Is Treating the Globe Like a Monopoly Board
- Bad Bunny On Heartbreak and New Album
- 10 Boundaries Therapists Want You to Set in the New Year
- The Motivational Trick That Makes You Exercise Harder
- Nicole Kidman Is a Pure Pleasure to Watch in Babygirl
- Column: Jimmy Carter’s Global Legacy Was Moral Clarity
Write to Charlie Campbell at charlie.campbell@time.com