Masayoshi Son, who has been a vocal advocate for AI’s transformative potential, previously predicted that AI could contribute up to 5% of global economic output by 2035
SoftBank CEO Masayoshi Son, currently on a brief visit to India, on Wednesday held discussions with over 20 Indian entrepreneurs, including some from SoftBank’s portfolio companies.
Son was scheduled to meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi and is also understood to have met with prominent business leaders such as Reliance Industries’ Chairman Mukesh Ambani, according to sources.
During a lunch meeting held in New Delhi, Son interacted with startup founders, including Vijay Shekhar Sharma (Paytm), Bhavish Aggarwal (Ola), Ritesh Agarwal (Oyo), Peyush Bansal (Lenskart), Albinder Dhindsa (Blinkit), Ruchi Kalra (OfBusiness), Saurabh Nigam (ElasticRun), Supam Meshwari (FirstCry), Kalyan Krishnamurthy (Flipkart), and Gaurav Munjal (Unacademy). In addition to meeting founders of companies already backed by SoftBank, Son also engaged with four-five entrepreneurs whose ventures are potential candidates for future investments.
The discussion revolved around artificial intelligence (AI), super AI, and generative AI (GenAI) — areas Son has consistently championed. According to sources, Son emphasised the need for Indian entrepreneurs to adopt an “exponential mindset” when thinking about AI applications, rather than a “linear approach”.
“He (Son) believes India has a significant opportunity in chip design, especially in creating intellectual property (IP) that will be uniquely Indian,” said a source familiar with the meeting. Son also encouraged founders to develop long-term strategies, advocating for 10-year plans rather than short-term goals of two or three years, the source added.
Sources in the know also said that Son had a one-on-one conversation with Lenskart’s Bansal, Naveen Tewari of InMobi, and Ola’s Agarwal.
After the meeting, Ola CEO and founder Agarwal wrote on X: “Always amazing meeting @masason!. Such an energising discussion on AI, AGI, Energy and India. We will make the future here in India together.”
https://www.business-standard.com/amp/companies/news/masayoshi-son-ask-indian-entrepreneurs-to-have-exponential-mindset-124112701219_1.html
