OpenAI has partnered with SoftBank to develop and sell artificial intelligence services to businesses in Japan.
The companies’ enterprise-grade AI will be known as “Cristal intelligence”, SoftBank CEO Masayoshi Son and OpenAI CEO Sam Altman said at an event in Tokyo. OpenAI and SoftBank will establish SB OpenAI Japan, a joint venture company, to market Cristal intelligence to major Japanese businesses.
“This initiative will not only transform the way SoftBank Group operates but also revolutionise the way companies work in Japan and around the globe,” said Son. “SoftBank Group is fully committed to leveraging the new products across our entire organisation and utilise our great partnership with OpenAI to drive the AI Revolution forward.”
Cristal intelligence will first be used by SoftBank and its subsidiaries, where the company says it will “automate over 100 million workflows”. Cristal’s tasks will include building financial reports and managing customer inquiries, according to SoftBank.
SoftBank's superconductor division Arm will support Cristal’s computing demands.
As part of the deal, SoftBank and its subsidiaries will receive full access to OpenAI’s ChatGPT Enterprise, ChatGPT’s application programming interface, custom AI models, and AI agents.
OpenAI also teamed with SoftBank on OpenAI’s Stargate project last month, which would see US$500 billion invested into AI infrastructure over the next four years. “This project will not only support the re-industrialization of the United States but also provide a strategic capability to protect the national security of America and its allies,” OpenAI said.
SoftBank is reportedly in talks to invest US$15-25 billion into OpenAI in the company’s next funding round, as well as its $15 billion contribution to Stargate. This would make SoftBank OpenAI’s largest financial backer, above Microsoft.
SoftBank’s share price (TYO: 9984) was JP¥9,527 at time of writing, up from a previous close at ¥9,455. Its market capitalisation is ¥14 trillion. OpenAI is privately held.
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