SoftBank Group and OpenAI have announced a partnership to develop and market "Cristal Intelligence," an Advanced enterprise AI solution designed to integrate with and optimise company-specific systems and data. SoftBank Group will invest USD 3 billion annually to deploy OpenAI's AI solutions across its group companies, including Arm and SoftBank Corp. This deployment makes it the "first company in the world to integrate Cristal intelligence at scale, as well as deploying existing tools like ChatGPT Enterprise to employees across the entire group," SoftBank Group announced on Monday.
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Joint Venture SB OpenAI Japan
Furthermore, to accelerate the deployment of Cristal intelligence customised for Japan-based companies, OpenAI and the SoftBank Group agreed to establish a joint venture (JV) company called "SB OpenAI Japan." This JV will market Cristal intelligence exclusively to major companies in Japan. This collaboration aims to empower enterprises by automating tasks such as document generation, customer management, and financial reporting, allowing professionals to focus on more strategic and creative work.
"In 2024, OpenAI launched their o1-series, AI models capable of reasoning. In 2025, these models will evolve into agents, AIs capable of doing work for you independently – you give it a task and it will execute it," SoftBank said.
"By deploying Cristal intelligence across the entire SoftBank Group, we will accelerate the development and adoption of AI agents and more advanced systems," Japan's SoftBank added.
SoftBank Group Leads the Way in AI Adoption
Under the agreement, SoftBank Group companies, including Arm and SoftBank Corp., will get priority access in Japan to the latest models developed by OpenAI. Arm will use Cristal intelligence to drive innovation and boost productivity, while SoftBank Corp. plans to automate over 100 million workflows by using Cristal intelligence across its operations?. SoftBank Corp. aims to boost efficiency and enable the creation of new business opportunities within its ecosystem.
"By automating and autonomizing all of its tasks and workflows, SoftBank Corp. will transform its business and services, and create new value," the official release said.
AI Agents and Automation in Japan
The joint venture, owned equally by OpenAI and SoftBank, will focus on offering an environment for Japanese firms to fine-tune and train AI models using their proprietary data. This will enable enterprises to develop AI agents fully integrated with their existing IT infrastructure.
"The JV will serve as a springboard for introducing AI agents tailored to the unique needs of Japanese enterprises while setting a model for global adoption," SoftBank said, adding, "To fully maximise the benefits of AI, it is essential for enterprises to be able to conduct additional training and fine-tuning in their own IT environments."
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Masayoshi Son, Chairman and CEO of SoftBank Group Corp., said: "This initiative will not only transform the way SoftBank Group operates but also revolutionise the way companies work in Japan and around the globe. SoftBank Group is fully committed to leveraging the new products across our entire organization and utilise our great partnership with OpenAI to drive the AI Revolution forward."
Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI, said: "This partnership with SoftBank will accelerate our vision for bringing transformative AI to some of the world's most influential companies—starting with Japan."
ARM Partnership with OpenAI and SoftBank
Rene Haas, CEO of Arm, said: "Arm is partnering with OpenAI and SoftBank to drive unprecedented productivity across the global technology ecosystem, setting new benchmarks and building a future in which AI agents span from edge to cloud on Arm. We are at the forefront of the AI revolution, and our high-performance, energy-efficient compute is going to be critical to advancing the Cristal intelligence."
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Junichi Miyakawa, President and CEO of SoftBank Corp., added: "To realise our long-term vision of building next-generation social infrastructure with the aim of implementing AI into society, SoftBank Corp. has been promoting various initiatives, including the buildout of distributed AI data centers and Japan top-level AI computing platforms. I’m greatly looking forward to seeing how we can transform Japan’s businesses through our partnership with OpenAI. By supporting the implementation and utilization of Cristal intelligence, we'll transform the management and operational practices of our clients."
