--- description: Find out why Masayoshi Son made TIME’s list of the most influential people in artificial intelligence. title: TIME100 AI 2024: Masayoshi Son image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt4692773b7b8ea9f7/698a5a86db2987fee326c092/TIME100-AI-2024-LEADERS_Masayoshi-Son_RM-NEW.jpg?branch=production&width=2400&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 --- Sep 05, 2024 # Masayoshi Son by [Charlie Campbell](/author/charlie-campbell/) ## Charlie Campbell Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Editor at Large  Photo-Illustration by TIME (Source: Kyodo News/Getty Images) Few people spot the next big trend as consistently as Masayoshi Son. Under his leadership, [Japan’s SoftBank](https://time.com/collection-post/5950054/softbank/ "undefined") pivoted from an internet broadband provider into a mobile phone network company and most recently an investment giant boasting assets worth $180 billion. Today, Son is pivoting again into what he believes will be the key source of future growth: AI, which he’s backing with $9 billion a year in investments. In May, SoftBank [led an investment](https://www.reuters.com/business/finance/softbank-leads-1-billion-funding-uk-self-driving-startup-wayve-2024-05-06/ "undefined") of over $1 billion into British self-driving car start-up Wayve, in Europe’s largest AI deal to date. Under the majority ownership of Softbank, leading semiconductor firm Arm is also rolling out a new generation of AI-enabled chips. But Son is not just a champion of AI—he’s embraced the technology with the zeal of a convert, backing ASI, or artificial super intelligence, to become “10,000 times smarter” than humans in a decade. “Softbank was founded to realize ASI,” he told an annual shareholder’s meeting in June. “Masayoshi Son was born to realize ASI.” [_Buy your copy of the TIME100 AI issue here_](https://magazineshop.us/TIME100AI "undefined") ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"Article","@id":"https://time.com/collections/time100-ai-2024/7012771/masayoshi-son/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/collections/time100-ai-2024/7012771/masayoshi-son/"},"headline":"Masayoshi Son","datePublished":"2024-09-05T11:22:18.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T11:54:22.340Z","description":"","url":"https://time.com/collections/time100-ai-2024/7012771/masayoshi-son/","keywords":["Tech"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt4692773b7b8ea9f7/698a5a86db2987fee326c092/TIME100-AI-2024-LEADERS_Masayoshi-Son_RM-NEW.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Charlie Campbell","jobTitle":"Editor at Large","url":"https://time.com/author/charlie-campbell/"}],"creator":"Charlie Campbell","articleSection":"Business","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt4692773b7b8ea9f7/698a5a86db2987fee326c092/TIME100-AI-2024-LEADERS_Masayoshi-Son_RM-NEW.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/business/","name":"Business"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-tech/","name":"Tech"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/collections/time100-ai-2024/7012771/masayoshi-son/","name":"Masayoshi Son"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"See Everyone on the 2024 TIME100 AI List","description":"The 2024 TIME100 AI list features innovators, thinkers, shapers and leaders who are making the future of AI.","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/kDTs1aRd/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2024-09-05T10:50:00.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/kDTs1aRd.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/collections/time100-ai-2024/7012771/masayoshi-son/","duration":"PT1M53S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/collections/time100-ai-2024/7012771/masayoshi-son/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```