SoftBank's Masayoshi Son Issues Rare Warning on AI Safety

Masayoshi Son, CEO of SoftBank Group, is one of AI’s enthusiastic believers, but he says that as machines rapidly gain more capabilities, even he is starting to worry about security risks. Speaking at a side event of the "Science and Technology in Society" forum held in Kyoto on Sunday, Son noted that the exponential surge in AI capabilities makes it necessary for countries to build mutual trust to jointly govern the technology. He spoke alongside Michael Kratsios, a White House science and technology policy advisor. Son said, “We no longer have the luxury of humans fighting each other.” He added that countries need to cooperate to control the greater threats posed by powerful AI models. He warned that superintelligence could become “extremely dangerous” if it falls into the wrong hands. This is a rare cautious stance from Son, reflecting growing external concerns amid the emergence of disturbing security vulnerabilities in AI models in recent months.