Masayoshi Son

“Artificial general intelligence will arrive within the next two to three years, and AI will soon run entire households — monitoring the health of family members, calling the doctor when needed, doing grocery shopping, making reservations, judging optimal investments and tutoring young children.”

Masayoshi SonCEO

Founder, Chairman and CEO, SoftBank Group

Son accelerated his own timeline here: three months earlier he had put AGI at three-to-five years away. Deadline falls in October 2027.

“I'm now excited to commit this $100 billion and 100,000 jobs into the United States — a $100 billion investment over the next four years, focused on artificial intelligence and related infrastructure.”

Masayoshi SonInvestor

Chairman and CEO, SoftBank Group; chairman of the Stargate Project

Son made a similar $50 billion / 50,000 jobs pledge in December 2016; SoftBank ultimately invested roughly $75 billion via the Vision Fund, with job creation never clearly verified. The 2024 pledge became the financial backbone of Stargate, announced a month later.

“AGI — AI that is one to 10 times smarter than humans — will arrive in the next three to five years, earlier than I had anticipated.”

Masayoshi SonCEO

Founder, Chairman and CEO, SoftBank Group

Outer bound of the stated window is mid-2029; Son revised this forecast down to two-to-three years in October 2024.

“Artificial super intelligence will be 10,000 times smarter than a human brain and will exist by 2035; realising it will require hundreds of billions of dollars of investment.”

Masayoshi SonCEO

Founder, Chairman and CEO, SoftBank Group

At the same event Son forecast $900 trillion in cumulative capex for generative AI; the ASI deadline is 2035.

“By around 2040 there will be roughly one billion AI-powered humanoid robots in operation and 100 trillion AI agents at work, with the AI-related market accounting for about 20% of combined global GDP (about 7 quadrillion yen); the center of labor will shift from humans to robots within the next decade or so.”

Masayoshi SonCEO

Founder, Chairman and CEO, SoftBank Group

In the same presentation Son said global AI infrastructure would require about $5 trillion of investment a year by 2040.

“ASI combined with physical AI such as humanoid robotics will comprise 10% of global GDP in 10 to 15 years, rising to 30% over 30 years.”

Masayoshi SonCEO

Founder, Chairman and CEO, SoftBank Group

Resolves on whether AI/robotics output reaches roughly a tenth of world GDP by the early 2040s; nothing close today.

“Within 30 years, superintelligence — AI with an IQ of 10,000 — will become a reality.”

Masayoshi SonInvestor

CEO, SoftBank

“SoftBank will deploy one billion AI agents internally this year [2025] — active 24 hours a day, 365 days a year and interacting with each other — with roughly 1,000 AI agents needed to replace each employee, because employees have complex thought processes.”

Masayoshi SonCEO

Founder, Chairman and CEO, SoftBank Group

SoftBank came nowhere near a billion: in December 2025 SoftBank Corp. publicised 2.5 million internally created AI agents as a landmark achievement — roughly 0.25% of the target — and Son had already conceded at announcement that the goal was 'challenging' and that the orchestration software did not yet exist.