SoftBank’s founder and CEO, Masayoshi Son, made bold predictions about the future of artificial intelligence (AI) during the company’s annual meeting in Tokyo on June 21. Son asserted that Artificial Superintelligence (ASI) could become a reality within the next decade, suggesting that AI may surpass human intelligence significantly by 2030 and become exponentially smarter by 2035.
According to Son, AI could be “one to 10 times smarter than humans” by 2030, with a potential to reach an astonishing “10,000 times smarter” by 2035. He drew a distinction between Artificial General Intelligence (AGI) and ASI, emphasizing that while AGI would match or exceed human cognitive abilities, ASI would vastly outstrip human potential, leading to unprecedented advancements.
These projections align with the objectives of Safe Superintelligence Inc. (SSI), a company co-founded by former OpenAI chief scientist Ilya Sutskever, Daniel Levy, and Daniel Gross. SSI aims to advance AI capabilities rapidly while ensuring safety remains a top priority. The company’s mission statement emphasizes solving the dual challenges of safety and capability in AI through groundbreaking engineering and scientific innovation.
The growing focus on ASI in the tech industry highlights the escalating race among major players to lead in the development of superintelligent AI. While SoftBank is gearing towards ASI advancement, SSI’s emphasis on safety underscores the critical balance needed in this pursuit.
However, the scientific community is still divided on the feasibility and implications of achieving AGI or ASI. Current AI systems, despite their impressive accomplishments in specific areas, have not yet demonstrated human-level reasoning across all domains. Son’s ambitious predictions have sparked discussions about the ethical, social, and economic impacts of creating AI that far surpasses human intelligence.
In a personal reflection during his speech, Son linked his life’s purpose to the realization of ASI, expressing a deep commitment to this vision. He declared, “I think I was born to realize ASI. I am super serious about it,” underscoring his resolve to push forward in this domain.
As the industry moves closer to the potential dawn of superintelligent AI, the implications of such technology on society, including job displacement and ethical challenges, are becoming increasingly critical. Whether Son’s predictions materialize within the next decade remains uncertain, but what is clear is that the race toward ASI is intensifying, with major players positioning themselves to lead this transformative era.
