SoftBank Group founder and chief executive Masayoshi Son doubled down on his commitment to artificial intelligence at the company’s annual shareholder meeting here, dismissing skeptics who question the billions being poured into AI infrastructure. Son described criticism of the technology as a form of “blasphemy against AI,” according to those present.
The remarks came as some investors and analysts have grown increasingly cautious about the massive spending on AI-related ventures, questioning whether the returns will ever match the hype. Son told shareholders that “the encouraging part is that the potential is still unfolding.” He argued that the current wave of investment represents not a speculative bubble but a fundamental shift that will reshape industries and daily life. The SoftBank chief has long positioned himself as a visionary willing to take enormous risks on emerging technology, and he made clear he sees no alternative path forward.
The criticism, he implied, stems from a failure to grasp the scale of what is coming.
A Life of High-Stakes Gambles
Son’s latest defense of AI is consistent with a career marked by bold, concentrated bets on transformative technologies. He grew up in southern Japan as the eldest son of Zainichi Korean parents who had settled in the country during its colonial period. His father built a modest business from scratch, moving the family to a better neighborhood so his children could attend stronger schools. After high school, Son moved to the United States, where he studied economics and computer science at the University of California, Berkeley.
He later took the surname Son — the Japanese reading of the Korean character for his family name — when he returned to Japan to launch his first business in the early 1980s. Son has a history of making bold pronouncements about technology.
He famously predicted the rise of the internet long before it became mainstream, and he has been equally emphatic about artificial intelligence, a view he first articulated during the internet’s rise in the late 1990s. But his willingness to place enormous bets has also drawn criticism, and he has suffered heavy losses before. Early in his career he was hit hard during Japan’s asset bubble collapse, and he later lost tens of billions when the dot-com bubble burst.
Yet he recovered each time by reinventing SoftBank’s business model, first as a telecom operator and later as a global investment house. His pattern — large, concentrated gambles on companies he believes will lead the next technological wave — remains unchanged.
The AI Investment Landscape and the Vision Fund
Artificial intelligence refers to computer systems that perform tasks typically requiring human judgment, such as reasoning, learning, perception, and problem-solving. Son has repeatedly staked SoftBank’s capital on companies he believes will lead in this field, most visibly through the Vision Fund, which channels large sums into start-ups focused on AI and related areas. Son’s comments come at a time when SoftBank is navigating a complex investment landscape, with the company having poured billions into AI-related ventures and Son making clear that he sees no alternative path forward.
The current debate over AI’s trajectory echoes earlier cycles in which Son’s convictions clashed with market skepticism. Some investors question whether today’s AI spending will deliver proportional returns, while Son remains undeterred.
For now, he is doubling down. Whether his bet pays off will depend on whether the AI boom delivers on its promise. But the outcome will shape not only SoftBank’s future but also the pace at which AI reshapes economies worldwide.
{“@context”: “https://schema.org”, “@type”: “NewsArticle”, “headline”: “Masayoshi Son Defends AI Spending at SoftBank Shareholder Meeting”, “description”: “TOKYO, June 24 — SoftBank Group founder and chief executive Masayoshi Son doubled down on his commitment to artificial intelligence at the company’s annual shareholder…”, “datePublished”: “2026-06-24T09:30:00+00:00”, “author”: {“@type”: “Person”, “name”: “Li Wei”}, “publisher”: {“@type”: “Organization”, “name”: “InfoPulse Today”, “url”: “https://newsfeed.infopulsetoday.com/”}}
