Japanese technology giant SoftBank Group and OpenAI have strengthened their AI partnership with the establishment of a new company called SB OpenAI Japan, jointly owned at a 50-50 ratio. At an event in Tokyo, SoftBank Chief Masayoshi Son and OpenAI Chief Sam Altman discussed their collaboration and extended an invitation to Japanese companies to join. Son, holding a symbolic blue crystal ball, introduced Cristal, an AI service that can assist companies in tasks such as planning, marketing, emails, and deciphering old source codes. Cristal is set to launch first within SoftBank Group companies, including Arm and PayPay, with plans to invest $3 billion annually to implement it across the organization. Altman highlighted the introduction of “deep research,” expanding ChatGPT’s capabilities to handle more complex assignments like generating reports from web searches at a rapid pace. This enhanced service will be available in Japan in the Japanese language. Altman expressed enthusiasm about the partnership with SoftBank, emphasizing the goal of bringing transformative AI solutions to prominent global companies, starting in Japan. The collaboration between SoftBank and OpenAI, as well as Oracle, is part of the Stargate project, a venture supported by President Donald Trump aiming to invest up to $500 billion in AI infrastructure in the United States. Son announced plans to extend Stargate’s reach to Japan and other countries. The technology industry faced disruption following Chinese contender DeepSeek’s revelation of a cost-effective and highly intelligent AI solution.
