Anyone who’s seen Softbank CEO Masayoshi Son give a keynote speech will know he rarely sticks to the standard industry conference playbook. And his turn on..
Anyone who’s seen Softbank CEO Masayoshi Son give a keynote speech will know he rarely sticks to the standard industry conference playbook.
And his turn on the stage at Mobile World Congress this morning was no different, with Son making like Eldon Tyrell and telling delegates about his personal belief in a looming computing Singularity that he’s convinced will see superintelligent robots arriving en masse within the next 30 years, surpassing the human population in number and brainpower.
“I totally believe this concept,” he said, of the Singularity. “In next 30 years this will become a reality.”
“If superintelligence goes inside the moving device then the world, our lifestyle dramatically changes,” he continued, pointing out that autonomous vehicles containing a superintelligent AI would become smart robots.
“There will be many kinds. Flying, swimming, big, micro, run, two legs, four legs, 100 legs,” he added, further fleshing out his vision of a robot-infested future.
Son said his personal conviction in the looming rise of billions of superintelligent robots both explains his acquisition of UK chipmaker ARM last year , and his subsequent plan to establish the world’s biggest VC fund.
“I truly believe it’s coming, that’s why I’m in a hurry – to aggregate the cash, to invest,” he noted.
Son’s intent to raise $100BN for a new fund, called the Softbank Vision Fund, was announced last October , getting early backing from Saudi Arabia’s public investment fund as one of the partners.
The fund has since pulled in additional contributors including Foxconn , Apple, Qualcomm and Oracle co-founder Larry Ellison’s family office.
But it has evidently not yet hit Son’s target of $100BN as he used his MWC keynote as a sales pitch for additional partners.
