Masayoshi Son, the chief executive of SoftBank Group, said on Tuesday that concerns about a bubble in artificial intelligence investments are ridiculous, describing such doubts as reactionary and comparable to questioning the usefulness of cars and aeroplanes.
Son told executives at the company's annual event in Tokyo that "asking whether AI is a bubble is a foolish question. AI will change our lives entirely, and it will do so in a way that generates profits."
He said that "people who reject progress close off their world, and those who criticise AI are distorting reality."
Financial markets have recently experienced waves of concern that record-high share prices at companies such as Nvidia, and massive investments in data centres, may not deliver the returns and profits expected from AI technologies.
Son, who founded SoftBank more than four decades ago, is among the earliest investors in the technology and AI sector in Japan, and was one of the first backers of artificial intelligence, having invested tens of billions of dollars in companies operating in the field.
Son said the world will need approximately $5 trillion in annual global investment to expand data centres, increase semiconductor production, and develop power systems and other infrastructure required for AI.
He added that "by 2040, industries linked to artificial intelligence — that is, the world of superintelligence — will account for around 20% of global GDP."