SoftBank Group Chief Son Meets with S. Korean Pres. Lee

Seoul, Dec. 5 (Jiji Press)–SoftBank Group Corp. Chairman and CEO Masayoshi Son met with South Korean President Lee Jae-myung on Friday to discuss cooperation in the fields of artificial intelligence and semiconductors, as well as infrastructure investment. Cooperation between South Korea and Japan in the field of AI is very important, Lee said, expressing his hope that the Japanese technology investor will play the role of a bridge between the two East Asian nations. The Lee administration has launched an initiative to make South Korea one of the world’s top three AI powers. Building an “AI expressway,” in which AI infrastructure and data are expanded and connected as a network, is a national project for the administration. At the meeting held at the presidential office in Seoul, Lee said that AI can be used as infrastructure like water supply systems and roads while expressing his gratitude to Son for providing considerable support and advice to South Korea for its tariff negotiations with U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration. Son said that artificial superintelligence, which is 10,000 times smarter than humans, will emerge in the future, stressing the need to consider pursuing coexistence with AI. Companies including SoftBank Group and U.S. AI giant OpenAI have launched the Stargate project to develop large-scale AI infrastructure in the United States with an investment of up to 500 billion dollars over four years. At the meeting with Son, Lee is believed to have asked the SoftBank side to cooperate with South Korean firms in infrastructure investment, according to South Korean media reports. END [Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]