The Pulse
SoftBank’s Masayoshi Son Warns AI Could Become ‘Super Dangerous’
SoftBank Group CEO Masayoshi Son warned in Kyoto on October 4 that powerful AI could become dangerous in the wrong hands. His remarks came alongside a 17-country initiative to expand AI’s role in scientific research.
AI.info Team · Written with AI ·
Masayoshi Son warned that powerful AI could become “super dangerous” in the wrong hands, even as a U.S.-led initiative announced in Kyoto promoted AI as a way to accelerate scientific discovery. The SoftBank Group CEO made the warning on October 4, at an event alongside White House science and technology policy adviser Michael Kratsios.
“We don’t have any more luxury of having human fight against human,” Son said, arguing that countries need to work together to control a threat he described as far greater than conflict between people. His remarks offered a rare note of caution from an investor who has long emphasized AI’s potential to reshape the economy.
Son warns of a threat beyond human conflict
Son tied the risk to what he described as the exponential rise in AI capabilities. In his view, governments need to build trust and cooperate as systems become more capable; a superintelligence in the wrong hands, he said, could be “super dangerous.”
The warning came at the 23rd annual Science and Technology in Society Forum in Kyoto. It did not amount to a rejection of AI development: Son also described how AI services are gaining the ability to browse websites and write code, and laid out a forecast for machines to take on more physical tasks.
Kyoto put Son’s warning beside a research push
Kratsios appeared at the event as the United States and 16 other countries endorsed the Kyoto Vision for a Golden Age of Science. The White House statement says the countries support wider researcher access to AI tools, scientific data, computing infrastructure and experimental facilities, as well as integrating advanced AI into research workflows.
Kratsios framed the effort in strongly positive terms. “Super intelligence applied to science will be the greatest force in history for democratizing research,” he said in the White House announcement. The two messages shared a stage, but the reported remarks do not establish a direct disagreement between Son and Kratsios: one stressed the danger of misuse, while the declaration focused on speeding scientific work.
Son sees AI moving from screens into the physical world
Son described a progression from chatbots to services that use tools such as web browsing and coding, followed by systems able to help robots and other machines interact with the physical world. He said that third phase could begin as soon as 2027.
The transition matters to his warning because it points to AI operating beyond a conversation or software task. Son did not specify safeguards or a timetable for governments to coordinate control. He called for countries to work together as capabilities rise.
The safety warning sits beside a $46 trillion forecast
Son maintained his bullish long-term outlook even while raising the risks. He repeated his prediction that AI and learning-capable machines could account for at least 20% of global gross domestic product by 2040, equivalent to $46 trillion.
That combination—a warning about control and a forecast of enormous economic impact—captures the tension in Son’s Kyoto remarks. He urged international cooperation against AI misuse while continuing to argue that the technology could become a major force in the global economy.