The founder and chief executive of investment firm SoftBank, Masayoshi Son, told shareholders that AI is still in its early stages and talk of a bubble is “an insult to AI”.

In the Japanese company’s annual meeting on Wednesday, he added: “I think it’s blasphemy against AI if you say it’s a bubble […] It’s just the beginning. AI’s potential will be unlocked.”

Under Son’s leadership, SoftBank has bet heavily on AI, even going so far as to risk breaching its own borrowing limits through its continued investment into OpenAI.

The continued boom in AI investment has so far kept valuations rising even as investors question its sustainability. A number of tech stocks in the US fell yesterday following concerns about rises to the federal interest rate. Included among them was SpaceX, which has fallen more than 20 per cent over the last five days, though it remains above its initial public offering price of $135.

SoftBank has also begun manufacturing robots at its “physical AI plant,” and is set to make an announcement soon, Son said. "I think we're the first in the world to have robots manufacturing robots at scale,” he added.

The 68-year-old entrepreneur also said he intends to lead the company into his 70s to bring about artificial superintelligence, a hypothetical future AI system that is far more intelligent than human beings. Son defines it as being 10,000 times smarter.

"I have become greedier," Son said. "I would like to do more over the next 10 to 15 years. I will stay healthy as long ⁠as I can."

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