Terminator redux? Softbank CEO Son wants to build robots that care for people
NEW DELHI: “Only god created something which has emotion ... mankind never created anything which shows and understands emotions...”
Masayoshi Son, Chief Executive Officer and founder of SoftBank, the Japanese telecom conglomerate, was talking at length about how he wants to change the way robots of the future function. He said the machine will eventually become much more intelligent than humans.
Pepper, Son’s newest creation, is a humanoid (a robot that looks like a human). It will understand facial expression and voice tone, and mirror people’s emotions.
His biggest acquisition is ARM, the chip-set maker, fits well with the “singularity” strategy. “Computer intelligence will surpass mankind intelligence .... In 30 years, it will be a million times intelligent,” said Son.
The chips that ARM makes will be fitted in robots, televisions, and cars. “Our company will ship one trillion of these chips,” Son said.
Son loves to gaze into the future. He is good at that, he admits. In the future, these robots will help mankind lead a better life. But many tech enthusiasts around the world are apprehensive of highly intelligent robots.
“You create robots with good emotions, they will take care of us ... I am building a robot with a good heart,” Son said. “We can use them as our companions, family members or business partners.”
Already, Softbank has shipped 10,000 of them. The world needs many more of these robots, said Son.
“Pepper has primitive emotions,” he said, adding they were working on the project in partnership with the medical school of Tokyo University.
Son recently raised $100 billion to fund more technology, internet and renewable companies around the world.
Son, however, agrees that robots are not new to the world. They have been used in manufacturing, warehouses, and medical science for ages. But SoftBank doesn’t want to focus on just “productivity”.
Son wants to play god, and Pepper is at the centre of his strategy. Pepper has emotions, doesn’t age, and becomes your companion.
But it can’t have babies. Maybe that, too, will happen in the future. “Mankind has 200,000 years of history. Pepper has two,” Son said.