SoftBank's Son slams Japan as 'underdeveloped' on AI

Vision Fund boss says lack of unicorns holding back investment

20190718 son

SoftBank founder Masayoshi Son speaks during Softbank world 2019 on July 18, in Tokyo. (Photo by Shihoko Nakaoka)

WATARU SUZUKI, ERI SUGIURA and RURIKA IMAHASHI, Nikkei staff writers

TOKYO -- Japan has fallen so far behind India and Southeast Asia in the race to adopt artificial intelligence that it was now an underdeveloped country, the world's biggest technology investor has warned.

"Until recently, Japan was the most technologically advanced country," SoftBank Group CEO Masayoshi Son told a technology conference in Tokyo on Thursday. "But in the most important field of AI, Japan has become an underdeveloped country. A developing country."

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