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Masayoshi Son, CEO of SoftBank Group, said concerns about a bubble in AI investments are ridiculous, describing such doubts as backward and akin to questioning the usefulness of cars and airplanes.

Speaking to executives at the company's annual event in Tokyo on Tuesday, Son added: "Questioning whether AI is a bubble is a stupid question... AI will completely change our lives, and it will do so in a way that generates profits."

"People who reject progress are closing off their world, and those who criticize AI distort reality," Son said, according to the Associated Press.

Financial markets have recently seen waves of concern that record-high stock prices of companies like Nvidia and massive investments in data centers may not yield the expected returns and profits from AI technologies.

Son, who founded SoftBank more than four decades ago, is one of the earliest investors in the technology and AI sector in Japan, and was among the first supporters of AI, investing tens of billions of dollars in companies operating in this field.

Son said the world will need annual global investments of nearly $5 trillion to expand data centers, increase chip production, and develop energy systems and other infrastructure necessary for AI.

Son added: "By 2040, AI-related industries — that is, the super-intelligent world — will replace about 20% of the global GDP."

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