Press Releases

SoftBank News

AI

The remarkable evolution of AI technology, as seen in the development of generative AI and similar advancements, has brought about significant transformations in society and industry.

In pursuit of our Long-term Vision to provide essential “Next-generation Social Infrastructure” for the advancement of the digital society, SoftBank began operating a computational platform dedicated to generative AI development. We aim to construct homegrown large-scale language models (LLMs: Large Language Models) with 350 billion parameters by the end of 2024.

Furthermore, we are actively exploring the application of various AI technologies to business, overcoming current common challenges in AI, and engaging in collaborative efforts with the University of Tokyo to conduct research on next-generation AI. This includes technical developments to significantly enhance AI capabilities and research on AI that possesses human-like flexibility and versatile problem-solving abilities through integration with neuroscience.

Through these endeavors, we are not only providing AI solutions and their common foundations to support our business, but also contributing to companies and society by realizing improved AI capabilities.

IoT

The Internet of Things (IoT) will make it possible to measure and quantify information not previously obtainable in various areas, from connections between people and devices to connections among devices, allowing the exchange of vast amounts of data communications to bring about a major transformation for a new age of information processing.

We offer a multitude of practical solutions, such as the verification of utilization methods in the field of earth sciences using our proprietary reference points for high-precision positioning systems, and research on smart aquaculture utilizing IoT and AI technology.

With our research and development of IoT technology, we aim to create new businesses and services that contribute to the realization of a more convenient and prosperous society.

Mobility

The practical implementation of automated driving is expected not only to make our lives even more convenient, but also to solve various social issues involving mobility.

To widely spread next-generation automated driving services in society, we are conducting research and development on various automated driving-related technologies such as operating service platforms for automated driving, High-resolution maps (HD maps), and communication technologies for automated driving vehicles using 5G networks.

In addition, SoftBank is engaged in various verification testing and commercialization efforts through developing automated driving technologies via our subsidiary BOLDLY Inc. and developing mobility platforms and providing services for MaaS (Mobility as a Service) with MONET Technologies Inc., another subsidiary.