Japan AI Stocks Surge as SoftBank Joins ChatGPT Clone Race
SoftBank Group Corp.'s mobile unit has announced that it is joining the global race to build a version of ChatGPT, sending a clutch of AI-related Japanese companies surging Thursday. In March of this year, wireless unit SoftBank Corp. set up a new entity, choosing about 1,000 people to develop a Japanese-language version of OpenAI Inc.'s artificial-intelligence chat technology, according to CEO Junichi Miyakawa. He did not elaborate on the project's goals or progress so far.
Billionaire founder Masayoshi Son, who for years touted AI as a revolutionary force in the way we use technology, gathered a group of engineers recently and spoke about ChatGPT's possibilities, according to Miyakawa. He didn’t give details.
SoftBank follows a plethora of US and Chinese corporations and startups vying to roll out their own conversational bots. Local software firms from Appier Group Inc. to ExaWizards Inc. jumped more than 2% in early trading in Tokyo.
Prime Minister Fumio Kishida on Thursday ordered a new AI panel to look into the economic potential of the technology and how to deal with its risks. He added that he'd seek to take a lead on international rule-making around AI as chair of the Group of Seven democracies. The G-7 summit is set to be held in Hiroshima from May 19.
