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SoftBank launches an OpenAI for Japan: SB Intuitions, building LLMs and generative AI in Japanese

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Summary

SoftBank has launched a new company called SB Intuitions in Japan, which will research and develop homegrown Large Language Models (LLMs) for the Japanese language and build and sell generative AI services based on Japanese. It will be 100% owned by SoftBank, use Japan-based data centers and tap into SoftBank's own consumer and enterprise operations. The company will also utilize a computing platform built on Nvidia GPUs and will launch before the end of March 2024. Hironobu Tamba will lead the new business, which will have a paid-in capital sum of 150 million yen. SoftBank is hoping to use generative AI to create a technology of incomparable importance, as currently only foreign companies are developing large language models. They will also have a strategic alliance with Microsoft to provide a secure data environment for enterprises and use Microsoft's Copilot service internally.

Q&As

What is SB Intuitions and what services does it provide?
SB Intuitions is a new company owned by SoftBank that will research and develop Large Language Models (LLMs) specialized for the Japanese language and build and sell generative AI services based on Japanese.

How will SoftBank use data housed in Japan-based data centers?
SoftBank will source the data from its extensive consumer and enterprise operations in the country and use data housed in Japan-based data centers.

How much money is SoftBank investing in SB Intuitions?
SoftBank is not disclosing how much it is going to invest in the effort overall, but it is issuing a new bond for 120 billion yen (just over $840 million) with some of the proceeds going to AI investments.

How has SoftBank's relationship with AI been in the past?
SoftBank has had a hit-and-miss relationship with AI over the years, with its efforts to build services in-house and forge partnerships not yielding much success.

What is SoftBank's strategic alliance with Microsoft and what services will it provide?
SoftBank's strategic alliance with Microsoft involves SoftBank providing a secure data environment for enterprises in Japan that might be interested in working with Microsoft on AI and generative AI initiatives, and SoftBank will also be using Microsoft's Copilot service internally.

AI Comments

👍 It is great to see SoftBank making a commitment to invest in AI for the Japanese market and to create LLMs and generative AI services based on the Japanese language. It is impressive that Softbank has the resources and commitment to invest in this venture.

👎 It is concerning to see SoftBank investing in AI when their previous attempts have had little success. Furthermore, it is concerning that they are not providing detail on how they will source the data and under what agreements.

AI Discussion

Me: It's about SoftBank launching a new company called SB Intuitions that will focus on building Large Language Models (LLMs) and generative AI services for the Japanese language. They also plan to use data from Japan-based data centers.

Friend: Wow. That's really interesting. What do you think the implications of this are?

Me: Well, it's a sign that SoftBank is taking AI seriously and is looking to invest in its own AI initiatives in Japan. This could potentially provide more jobs in the AI sector and could lead to more investment in AI research and development for the Japanese market. Additionally, this could lead to more AI-based services and products catering to the Japanese market, which could be a great benefit to businesses and consumers in Japan. Lastly, it could further open up the global AI market to include more countries and create more competition amongst AI companies around the world.

Action items

Research the current AI landscape in Japan and the potential opportunities for SoftBank's new venture.
Explore the potential of leveraging Microsoft's Copilot service to create a multi-generative AI system.
Analyze the impact of SoftBank's investment in AI and the potential for success in the Japanese market.

Technical terms

SoftBank: A Japanese multinational conglomerate holding company headquartered in Tokyo, Japan.
OpenAI: A research laboratory based in San Francisco, California, whose mission is to ensure that artificial general intelligence (AGI) benefits all of humanity.
Large Language Models (LLM): A type of artificial intelligence (AI) system that is trained on large amounts of text data to learn the structure of language and generate new text.
Generative AI: A type of artificial intelligence (AI) system that is trained on large amounts of data to generate new data.
Nvidia GPUs: Graphics processing units (GPUs) manufactured by Nvidia, a technology company based in Santa Clara, California.
Hironobu Tamba: A long-time SoftBank employee who has most recently been running the company’s AI and IoT division.
Paid-in capital sum: The amount of money that a company has received from its shareholders in exchange for shares of its stock.
OpenAI: A research laboratory based in San Francisco, California, whose mission is to ensure that artificial general intelligence (AGI) benefits all of humanity.
Microsoft Copilot: A service from Microsoft that provides AI-driven customer service and support.