Speaking on the sidelines of the Science and Technology in Society forum in Kyoto, the Japanese billionaire warned that the exponential leap in AI capabilities leaves nations no choice but to foster mutual trust and govern the technology cooperatively, according to a report by Bloomberg. Japan’s richest man and SoftBank Group founder Masayoshi Son, long regarded as one of artificial intelligence’s most vocal champions, has reportedly voiced sharp concern over the safety risks posed by rapidly advancing machines.
Son shared the stage with White House science and technology policy advisor Michael Kratsios, who unveiled a 17-nation initiative led by the United States aimed at deploying AI to speed up scientific discovery. A month earlier in 2025, SoftBank sold 32.1 million shares of Nvidia. The company also sold part of its stake in T-Mobile for $9.17 billion to fund Sam Altman’s company.
“We don’t have any more luxury of having human fight against humans,” Son said, emphasizing that countries must align to counter the far larger risks emerging from ultra-powerful systems. In November 2025, SoftBank announced that it has sold its entire stake in the US chipmaker Nvidia as the Japanese giant looks to capitalize on its “all in” bet on ChatGPT maker OpenAI. Delegates from countries including Japan, South Korea, the UK, Germany, Singapore, and the United Arab Emirates appeared alongside Kratsios to endorse the pact. China was not among the initial signatories to the White House statement.