Masayoshi Son, chairman of SoftBank Group, is set to create a joint venture in Japan with OpenAI, the developer of ChatGPT. The two companies plan to develop and sell business-oriented generative artificial intelligence (AI) through the joint venture.

<YONHAP PHOTO-7116> SoftBank and OpenAI establish a joint venture in Japan to sell corporations AI. (Kyodo=Yonhap News) Masayoshi Son, chairman of SoftBank Group (left), and Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI, meet and shake hands at an event held in Tokyo, Japan, on Feb. 3. 2025. photo@yna.co.kr/2025-02-03 19:48:29/ <Copyright ⓒ 1980-2025 Yonhap News. Unauthorized reproduction and redistribution prohibited, AI learning and utilization prohibited.>
<YONHAP PHOTO-7116> SoftBank and OpenAI establish a joint venture in Japan to sell corporations AI. (Kyodo=Yonhap News) Masayoshi Son, chairman of SoftBank Group (left), and Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI, meet and shake hands at an event held in Tokyo, Japan, on Feb. 3. 2025. photo@yna.co.kr/2025-02-03 19:48:29/ <Copyright ⓒ 1980-2025 Yonhap News. Unauthorized reproduction and redistribution prohibited, AI learning and utilization prohibited.>

On the 3rd, according to the Nihon Keizai Shimbun and others, Chairman Son and Sam Altman, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of OpenAI, revealed this plan during an event in Tokyo attended by representatives from more than 500 corporations in Japan. The joint venture will be named 'SB OpenAI Japan,' with SoftBank Group's new intermediate holding company and OpenAI each contributing 50%.

The joint venture will develop a business-oriented AI named 'Crystal Intelligence.' This AI will aggregate data related to human resources, marketing, and other aspects for corporations to automate tasks such as customer interactions and document preparation or to support decision-making.

SoftBank Group's subsidiaries plan to be the first to implement the system and will pay OpenAI an annual fee of 450 billion yen (approximately 4.2 trillion won). Chairman Son noted, "We will launch cutting-edge AI for large corporations in Japan first in the world," adding, "We will create cutting-edge intelligence inside corporations." CEO Sam Altman also emphasized, "We will start in Japan and expand globally."

Earlier, the two companies announced plans to create an AI joint venture called Stargate with Oracle on the 21st of last month, planning to invest more than $500 billion (approximately 718 trillion won) over the next four years to establish AI data centers in the United States as part of the 'Stargate' initiative. SoftBank Group is also discussing a direct investment in OpenAI ranging from $15 billion to $25 billion (approximately 21.9 trillion to 36.6 trillion won).

Meanwhile, CEO Altman visited the University of Tokyo on that day and spoke with about 30 students. At the meeting, he remarked that, similar to how the Chinese startup DeepMind adopted an open-source approach, OpenAI is considering the possibility of making AI model-related technology public, stating, "I don't yet know exactly what form the openness will take or when it will happen, but we will move towards providing a more open model."