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SoftBank boss Son Masayoshi said on Wednesday that his team is working on a first-of-its-kind system in which AI agents will be able to self-replicate, and suggested that his company could have a billion AI agents operating alongside employees by the end of this year.

Already a key area of focus for AI giants like OpenAI and Google, AI agents autonomously complete requested tasks, with minimal human input. This is in contrast to the more familiar generative AI tools like ChatGPT, which generate content in response to user prompts and lack autonomous decision-making capability.

Speaking in Tokyo at a gathering of SoftBank’s corporate customers, Son said the AI agents will make each employee like a “thousand-armed deity,” dramatically increasing each person’s productivity by handling multiple tasks at the same time. However, it’s likely that many workers will fear that the tool will simply end up replacing them.

“The AI agents will think for themselves and improve on their own … so the era of humans doing the programming is coming to an end,” Son said in comments reported by The Mainichi.

The SoftBank CEO said that such AI agents will be able to work around the clock to compile work strategies, negotiate on behalf of humans, and perform programming tasks.

Son said he was “excited to see how the AI agents will interact with one another and advance given tasks,” explaining that to carry out the tasks and achieve the goals, the agents will “self-evolve and self-replicate.” 

While the idea of self-replicating AI agents may sound alarming and even borderline dystopian, the technology would be closely managed and restricted to solving work tasks internally.

SoftBank’s AI agent initiative is born from its already established partnership with OpenAI, which is supplying the advanced technology and models that will enable SoftBank to develop and deploy the agents.

While SoftBank’s initiative is undeniably ambitious, questions remain around the issue of oversight and the potential impact on jobs, and Son will undoubtedly face through scrutiny regarding the details of his plans.

The jobs issue is particularly sensitive. Earlier this month, Microsoft, for example, announced it was cutting its workforce by another 9,000 people at a time when the company is also investing massively in AI technology as part of broader efforts to reduce operational costs.