Masayoshi Son SoftBank Shareholders Meeting Latest Speech: SoftBank's goal is AGI upgrade version - ASI! The intelligence level is 10,000 times that of humans, and the information revolution will continue

At the just-concluded 44th SoftBank Shareholders' Meeting, Masayoshi Son delivered a passionate and visionary speech, focusing on his vision for the future of AI and SoftBank's strategic development direction.

In addition to reviewing SoftBank's evolution over the past 44 years, from personal computer software distribution, mobile internet, to today's AI and robotics technology, Masayoshi Son detailed his outlook on AI and ASI (Artificial Superintelligence).

Son stated that ASI is an upgraded version of AGI, with intelligence levels 100 to 10,000 times that of humans. SoftBank's mission is to achieve ASI, believing that this will drive significant progress in human society.

He also mentioned that the Vision Fund is an important tool for SoftBank, focusing on investments in the AI field. Despite the setbacks experienced with WeWork, last year, SoftBank's Net Asset Value (NAV) grew to 34 trillion yen. He firmly believes that through investments from the Vision Fund, SoftBank will play a significant role in the future AI field.

In particular, ARM plays a crucial role within the SoftBank Group, with its chip design capabilities widely used globally. He emphasized the importance of ARM in the AI world — ARM's generative AI chips will be ubiquitous, applied in various fields including PCs, servers, cloud computing, automobiles, high-end IoT, and AI-related areas.

Finally, Masayoshi Son concluded his speech with profound philosophical thoughts — "We pursue ASI to make humans happier. The ultimate goal of the information revolution is to enable people to live better lives"; he also called on shareholders to believe in his dream and support SoftBank's efforts towards this grand goal.

Below is the full content of Masayoshi Son's Shareholders' Meeting speech:

Over the past year, I have been solving complex simultaneous equations. Two days ago, I only slept 3 hours a day, possibly due to dopamine secretion. In a hazy consciousness, some good ideas often come to mind. At 4 am this morning, I finally solved this problem that I have been thinking about for a year. So, I immediately started calling the United States frantically to confirm that my idea was correct. Today, I am very happy and feel very refreshed.

Now, we are going to hold the shareholders' meeting, which is an important event. Thank you very much for taking the time to participate. According to Article 13 of the company's articles of association, I will chair today's meeting. This is the 44th regular shareholders' meeting. SoftBank has been established for 44 years, and although we are getting older, we are still full of passion... Next, I will introduce the company's future strategy Shareholders are here today, or watching via the internet, mainly concerned about whether SoftBank's stock is high or low, and the future direction. I will first talk about our performance, and then discuss our vision. The video mentioned that our revenue reached 6 trillion yen, growing by 2% to 3%. Although some businesses lost 200 billion or 500 billion yen, some businesses are growing.

In summary, I believe that the increase in shareholder value means that our business model is constantly evolving and being pushed to the market through sales capabilities. This is a process of evolution and expansion.

Looking back over the past 44 years, I believe we have been constantly evolving and expanding. Without evolution, competitors will surpass us at lower prices. The reason why the Japanese economy has not grown in the past 30 years is because Japan lacks major new industrial evolution and has been gradually overtaken by other countries. From a financial perspective, shareholder value is the value of stocks held minus liabilities.

For investors, the key is the difference between the value of their stock investments and liabilities. Managers of large companies should view their business units like investors and evaluate their value daily.

Someone asked me if I am an investor or an entrepreneur, I believe I am both. Managers of large companies should have both perspectives. If they only look at issues from a financial accounting perspective, they are not competent. The CEO of a large company should evaluate the corporate value of their business units daily. SoftBank's management focus is to check the total stock value and net debt of the group daily to maximize shareholder value. Although I am called the "debt king," I believe debt is for growth. What is important is to maximize shareholder value after deducting liabilities. Looking back over the past 44 years, this is my experience.

In conclusion, this is a history of evolution and multiplication. First, the first stage was the circulation of personal computer software, in Japan through Yahoo.

Next was the era of mobile internet, starting with broadband business, launching Yahoo Japan, and using this momentum to enter the mobile internet field, acquiring Vodafone Japan, and reaching an exclusive agreement with Apple to sell the iPhone exclusively in Japan.

In other words, from the era of personal computers to the era of mobile internet, it is a process of evolution. By acquiring or launching new businesses, we have seized the evolution of the new era in advance and continuously expanded. Not limited to Japan, because it was temporarily unable to surpass NTT in Japan, it turned to the United States, acquired Sprint, and merged it with T-Mobile.

Finally, it became the world's number one. As mentioned in the video, although some criticized the acquisition of Sprint as a huge failure, burdened with debt, the result was becoming the world's number one. SoftBank is no longer the third largest in Japan, but has become the world's largest communication company and its largest shareholder. This is the third stage of evolution and multiplication Next is the expansion of the Internet in China. We became the major shareholder of Alibaba, in fact, I provided the business model to Jack Ma.

Of course, Jack Ma executed this model excellently, and I think it's a great partnership. It's also a kind of evolution. Bringing the Internet from the United States and Japan to China, in the early stages of the Chinese Internet, driving the development and expansion of the Chinese Internet.

In addition, there is the Vision Fund. The focus of the Vision Fund is AI, as a seed investment in AI in the early stages. Despite the huge setback and reflection from WeWork, at last year's shareholders' meeting, ARM was not yet listed, and most of the asset value was only equivalent to the purchase price.

At that time, SoftBank's shareholder value, as most of the holdings were in listed company stocks, was evaluated daily, with a net asset value (NAV) after deducting borrowings of about 14 trillion yen.

So, what about today, a year later? It has grown to 34 trillion yen. That is, it has grown from 14 trillion to 34 trillion in one year. Despite a lot of complex data in between, that's the summary.

All income statements, balance sheets, financial accounting, audit reports, etc., can be forgotten. You only need to look at this page to find the answer. I check this page every morning, it is automatically processed and calculated by AI, and I receive it promptly at 8 a.m. every morning. This page contains all the analysis results.

Through this page, I can know the company's survival status and pressure every day. If you hold 10 stocks, you will pay attention to the ups and downs of these stocks every day. Before going to bed, you will want to know how much you earned and lost today. People spend a lot of time on these, but you won't check the detailed financial statements of each company every day. You will focus on whether the growing companies are performing well and if the sluggish companies have issues.

So, I also check the changes in the value of the stocks I hold every day. I think CEOs of large companies should carefully check the situation of each business unit or subsidiary every day. Some people criticize subsidiaries going public, but I think this idea is somewhat narrow-minded and outdated.

In fact, we have hundreds or even thousands of companies domestically and internationally. If these companies are not listed, we cannot know their value. If subsidiaries go public, the market evaluates their value every day, which is much more effective than just financial statements. So, I believe that letting subsidiaries go public and accepting daily market scrutiny is the truly healthy approach

Last year, our company's value increased by 2 trillion yen, thanks to ARM. Two years ago, I decided to focus on ARM and let others handle financial reports and customer relationships. I communicate closely with ARM's CEO Rene every day through WhatsApp, phone calls, and Zoom, exchanging 5 to 10 times a day. Since Rene became CEO, we have cooperated very well, and I feel very happy.

We acquired ARM for 3.3 trillion yen, when it was a listed company, paying a 40% premium, increasing from 2 trillion yen to 3 trillion yen. Although some criticized it as a high premium acquisition, the assets worth 3 trillion yen are now valued at 24 trillion yen.

To complete the acquisition, we borrowed money, encouraged by Mr. Sato from Mizuho Bank to fully acquire. Despite internal opposition within the company, we quickly reached an agreement and increased the number of engineers. Although performance declined initially, these additional engineers and new technologies are now rapidly making an impact, applied in various fields including PCs, servers, cloud computing, automobiles, high-end IoT, and AI-related areas.

Through borrowing, we achieved greater capital growth, following the principle of leverage. Despite many risks and challenges along the way, the final results proved our success.

Looking back over the past 40 years, we have continuously grown through evolution and expansion. Despite many failures, they are all part of the evolutionary process, and it is these failures that have allowed us to survive and grow, increasing the company's value by about 700 times.

This is the first half of our history, where we significantly increased shareholder value through continuous evolution and proliferation. Despite facing many difficulties and challenges at the time, looking back now, our evolution and growth are remarkable.

So, today's keyword is "evolution." Let's take a look at the history of human evolution, which can be shown in 20 seconds over a history of about 200,000 years. Humans have invented and used various tools, something only humans can do. Other animals cannot invent and use tools, but humans continuously extend the functions of their hands, feet, ears, and eyes through these tools, enabling them to fly farther, run faster, hear more, and see farther Humans have evolved and expanded through the use of tools. This is the key - evolution and enlargement. In the past year, I have been particularly excited because I have seen SoftBank's mission.

In the past, everyone asked what Masayoshi Son of SoftBank had done, what he had created. Two years ago, I felt old, life is limited, and I haven't achieved anything, which made me very painful. At last year's shareholders' meeting, I said that I felt I hadn't done anything yet, can I really grow old and die like this? As an entrepreneur, Masayoshi Son, where am I?

I admire Steve Jobs very much and have established a deep friendship with him. In the five years before his death, we met almost every month. He found his mission and devoted himself to it wholeheartedly. It's not just about money or honor, but a sense of mission and desire - to change people's way of life and achieve this goal through a work. This touched me deeply.

I cried for two weeks, feeling that I had achieved nothing, feeling very anxious. However, I finally saw SoftBank's mission - to drive human evolution. Yes, this goal sounds very grand, but I really think so. What is this goal? It is to achieve ASI (Artificial Superintelligence).

I decided on this goal on June 11 last year, but did not announce it publicly because I was not sure if we could really achieve it. Over the past year, I have been thinking about this issue every day and gradually solving this complex equation. This morning, I finally solved the most difficult part of it, which made me very excited.

What is ASI? Simply put, it is an upgraded version of AGI (Artificial General Intelligence). AGI refers to artificial systems with general intelligence, whose intelligence level is equivalent to the smartest humans, even surpassing one to ten times.

AGI can surpass human wisdom and knowledge in various aspects. However, AGI is only a stage, while ASI is more powerful, with an intelligence level 100 times or even 10,000 times that of humans.

I believe SoftBank's mission is to achieve ASI, which is also the reason why I came to this world. I firmly believe that we can do it. Over the past year, I have been working on this issue, and this morning I finally found the answer, feeling very confident.

In the next few years, AGI will be achieved. I think it may become a reality in three to five years. And then, AGI will drive evolution because it is smarter than humans AGI will stimulate each other, drive faster evolution, and eventually reach the level of ASI, which will be 10,000 times the intelligence of human beings.

We are at a critical juncture in history, and the next decade will be a significant turning point in the 200,000-year history of humanity. The emergence of ASI will completely change all common sense and social structures. Intelligent robots will become a reality, capable of not only manufacturing in factories but also performing various physical activities such as cleaning, shopping, laundry, and construction.

SoftBank has been introducing robots like Pepper for the past decade. Although some people may feel that Pepper's performance may not be satisfactory, these robot technologies have actually deeply integrated into our organization. Although we sold 80% of our shares in Boston Dynamics, we still retain 20% and continue to closely collaborate with Boston Dynamics and other robot companies.

Our Vision Fund has also invested in many other robot companies. Due to time constraints, I would like to show you the latest robot video from Boston Dynamics. Please observe the angles and movements of its legs; it can stand up from different directions, and its neck and body can rotate instantly.

These are just the initial stages of humanoid robots. In the next decade, more robots like this will emerge and eventually be connected to ASI (Artificial Super Intelligence). Mass production, processing, logistics, etc., will gradually be replaced by robots. For example, in autonomous driving, our Vision Fund has also invested in companies in this field. Please watch this video.

This autonomous driving technology is different from previous systems that rely on LiDAR and high-precision cameras. It mainly relies on inexpensive cameras and AI, making real-time judgments through generative AI. Unlike traditional autonomous driving that relies on pre-mapped and precise maps, this technology can learn driving skills through AI without the need to know the map in advance.

This means that, like human drivers, this technology can drive smoothly in cities they have never been to before. This is autonomous driving 2.0, and we are the major shareholders in this wave, closely connected to the evolution of generative AI.

Furthermore, the central role is, of course, ARM. Within our group, ARM plays a crucial role in cloud, data center, and edge computing. Edge computing includes devices such as mobile phones, cars, and robots. ARM's chip shipments are the largest globally, and the displayed chart shows a beautiful quadratic growth, applied in various fields, and will expand into the world of ASI in the future

The strength of ARM lies in its design capabilities, with a talented design team based in Cambridge, UK, leveraging outstanding design capabilities to achieve the best combination of computational performance and energy efficiency. This is crucial for the future ASI world, where ARM's generative AI chips will be ubiquitous.

Of course, ARM cannot accomplish all of this alone. We collaborate with companies like Nvidia, whose CPUs use ARM's licensed technology. In addition, companies such as Microsoft, Google, Amazon, and Oracle also utilize ARM's technology. 99% of the global mobile market is supported by ARM technology, practically close to 100%.

In the ASI world, these AI chips are indispensable. We will collaborate with companies like Nvidia, AMD, Intel, etc., to establish AI data centers globally.

In the future, we will continue to drive the development of AI robot technology. Although this requires a large amount of funding and technology, we will work together with like-minded partners to achieve our goals. Acting alone is not necessary; the key is to share goals with partners and collectively achieve this grand mission.

Finally, what I want to emphasize is ASI. SoftBank's mission and my determination are to achieve ASI. I believe that everything done in the past has been in preparation for this goal. Compared to this grand mission and dream, daily stock price fluctuations, company stock buybacks, and dividends seem insignificant. If anyone is concerned about these issues at today's shareholders' meeting, I think they are trivial matters.

Therefore, compared to this grand mission and dream, today's stock price fluctuations, company stock buybacks, or dividends seem very insignificant.

At today's shareholders' meeting, some may want to ask these questions, but they are actually trivial matters. Making 20 trillion yen in the past year is just a margin of error. In comparison, those are just money matters and not important.

Shareholders, I have two reasons for being here today. Everyone is concerned about whether SoftBank's stock price will rise and is worried about it. But we should forget about these, as they are not important. If you believe in Masayoshi Son's dream, then please support me But why do we pursue this goal? When human intelligence is surpassed by ten thousand times, everyone will wonder, what should I do? What is the meaning of work? What is the significance of labor? What is happiness? Is it really good for such machines to appear? These questions involve fundamental human issues and are worth pondering.

Yes, we should question these questions. The ancient Greek philosophers questioned these questions every day, and philosophy was born from here. Thinking about fundamental issues is very important. Why do we pursue intelligence that is ten thousand times greater?

Last year, I lost my father, who passed away from cancer. I cried every day, feeling desperate. I thought, if there were intelligence that is ten thousand times greater, maybe this problem could be solved. Ordinary intelligence cannot do it, that's why AGI is not enough, one-fold intelligence cannot solve the problem.

We need to eliminate cancer, prevent strokes and cerebral infarctions. My mother also suffered a stroke, which made me very sad. We need autonomous driving technology that can significantly reduce traffic accidents, truly solve problems, not just reduce the number of drivers.

If a small asteroid is flying towards the Earth, human intelligence cannot prevent destruction, but ASI with ten thousand times intelligence may be able to. It can help us avoid the next ice age, deal with major earthquakes and other disasters, as well as infectious diseases and pandemics.

In the past 200,000 years of human history, we have endured countless pains. If we can have intelligence that is ten thousand times greater, maybe we can break free from despair and find the meaning of happiness.

Do we need to continue to work hard just to sustain our lives? In the past, people spent the whole day fetching water, now we have a tap water system, people no longer need to do that.

We work to meet basic needs, not to enjoy the process of labor. If ASI and robots can meet these needs, people can live happier lives between crying coming into this world and crying leaving this world.

The information revolution is to make people happier, this has been SoftBank's unchanged belief since its establishment. Some say SoftBank's business is always changing, but we have never changed our core business - making people happier through the information revolution.

We constantly evolve our methods, adopt new technologies, because it is inevitable. Those who say our business is always changing do not understand the necessity of evolution. SoftBank's sole mission is to achieve ASI and drive tremendous progress for humanity.

My speech ends here, now we will move on to the Q&A session. Although we have almost sold all of our Uber shares, we are still important shareholders. Uber's senior management met with me a few weeks ago to discuss future cooperation. Our Vision Fund has invested in many companies, including robotics companies, which will be closely linked to ASI.

The goal of the Vision Fund is to drive evolution and plant the seeds of this evolution. In the future, with the realization of ASI, these companies will become leaders in their respective fields and generate tremendous synergies. Of the stock value held by SoftBank, more than half is ARM. ARM has become our core business, and today I am pleased to have the opportunity to share these ideas Article Source: Newin, Original Title: "In-depth | Masayoshi Son's SoftBank Shareholders' Meeting Latest Speech: SoftBank's Goal is AGI Upgrade - ASI! Intelligent Level Up to 10,000 Times that of Humans, Information Revolution Will Continue"