TOKYO - SoftBank Group CEO Masayoshi Son has a stark prediction for the future of artificial intelligence: it will require $5 trillion in annual investment by 2040. Speaking at the company's annual conference, Son dismissed concerns about an AI market bubble as "absurd."
The technology investment giant has committed tens of billions to become a core AI platform, with major bets on firms like OpenAI. Son argued the spending is justified, stating that if AI revenue constitutes 20% of global GDP by 2040, the cost would be a "rounding error."
Son's vision extends to infrastructure. He forecasted a need for 3 terawatts of power generation for AI data centers by 2040, initially from gas and later from nuclear fusion.
He also described a societal shift to an "agent-centric world" by 2040, where 100 trillion AI agents operate autonomously. "The age when humans are the highest life form on earth will end," Son stated, calling the transformation unstoppable.