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July 09, 2026
 

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OPENAI

Investors appear to be skeptical that artificial intelligence will generate widespread prosperity despite its potential for significant profits in certain sectors.
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 27, 2025
What does the market really think about AI?
Investors appear to be skeptical that artificial intelligence will generate widespread prosperity despite its potential for significant profits in certain sectors.
Masayoshi Son’s SoftBank is turning to expensive hybrid bonds and other financing methods to fund its $30 billion investment in OpenAI, as it faces growing pressure from high debt, low cash flow and competition from AI giants like Nvidia.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Oct 26, 2025
SoftBank’s OpenAI ambition is far too grand for banks
On a stand-alone basis, as of the end of June, the company held more than twice as many bonds as bank loans.
OpenAI has unveiled ChatGPT Atlas, a long-anticipated artificial intelligence-powered web browser built around its popular chatbot, in a direct challenge to Google Chrome’s dominance.
BUSINESS / Tech
Oct 22, 2025
OpenAI launches AI browser Atlas in latest challenge to Google
The browser could accelerate a broader shift toward AI-driven search, as users increasingly turn to conversational tools instead of relying on traditional keyword-based results.
Sora 2, a short-form video app made by OpenAI, enables users to create realistic AI videos with text prompts, but critics say that there are insufficient guardrails — from a lack of copyright consideration to families of public figures upset by the reanimation of their loved ones.
BUSINESS / Companies
Oct 16, 2025
Japan’s government asks OpenAI to seek permission amid Sora 2 copyright concerns
Sora 2 enables users to create realistic AI videos with text prompts, but critics say that there are insufficient guardrails.
OpenAI has rolled out a social app powered by Sora 2, its artificial intelligence video generator, which was quickly flooded with videos featuring iconic Japanese intellectual property.
BUSINESS / Tech
Oct 7, 2025
OpenAI’s Sora 2 is drowning in Japanese ‘AI slop’
Iconic Japanese characters are prevalent across Sora 2, but legally, this places the company on shaky ground.
OpenAI CEO Sam Altman speaks in Washington in July.
BUSINESS / Companies
Oct 7, 2025
OpenAI signs multibillion dollar chip deal with AMD
The ChatGPT-maker is pushing ahead with an investment spree to secure massive amounts of computing power.
The Digital Agency will enable its employees to use OpenAI's cutting-edge large language model-based AI tools for their work.
BUSINESS
Oct 2, 2025
Japan’s Digital Agency to cooperate with OpenAI on administrative tools
The agency plans to provide its employees with access to generative AI tools and encourage other government agencies to adopt these services starting as early as fiscal year 2026.
Oracle is among some of the firms expected to thrive in an artificial intelligence future.
BUSINESS / Tech
Sep 29, 2025
Magnificent Seven is passe, but what can take its place?
Wall Street’s most powerful collection of stocks is missing some of the firms that are also expected to thrive in an artificial intelligence future.
Stock picking using ChatGPT requires some financial knowledge and even its adopters say there is a high risk of getting it wrong before getting it right.
BUSINESS / Markets
Sep 25, 2025
‘ChatGPT, what stocks should I buy?’ AI fuels boom in robo-advisory market
Thanks to AI, anyone can select stocks, monitor them and obtain investment analysis that was once only available to big banks or institutional investors.
Nvidia's $100 billion investment is meant to help OpenAI build data centers with a capacity of at least 10 gigawatts of power — equipped with Nvidia’s advanced chips to train and deploy AI models.
BUSINESS / Tech
Sep 23, 2025
Nvidia and OpenAI make $100 billion deal to build data centers
The investment is meant to help OpenAI build data centers with a capacity of at least 10 gigawatts of power — equipped with Nvidia’s advanced chips to train and deploy AI models.
SoftBank Group’s Vision Fund is considering cutting as much as 20% of its staff.
BUSINESS / Companies
Sep 19, 2025
SoftBank’s Vision Fund mulls 20% job cuts after Son’s pivot to AI
The unit, which employed about 282 people as of the end of March, may shed more than 50 roles, a person familiar with the matter said.
AI systems will never be true friends, companions or agents — they are data-driven tools that can help us but must never replace real human connection or moral judgment.
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 17, 2025
Artificial intelligence is not your friend
But despite the industry’s bold claims, today’s data-based systems lack the capacity for moral reasoning required to guide real-world decision-making.
While markets clearly reflect the belief that the United States is ahead in the AI arms race, early leadership does not mean victory — especially when it comes to innovation.
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 4, 2025
Who’s winning the U.S.-China artificial intelligence race?
The winner will most likely be the country that provides greater support for basic research, in which case China is better positioned for the long haul.
Tech and social media giant Meta has enticed artificial intelligence talent from other companies, including Apple, with staggering pay increases.
BUSINESS / Tech
Sep 3, 2025
Apple’s lead AI researcher for robotics heads to Meta as part of latest exits
The Apple Foundation Models team, which the company launched last year as part of its bid to catch up in AI, has lost roughly 10 members in recent weeks.
Elon Musk (left) in Los Angeles in 2024 and Open AI CEO Sam Altman in Seoul in February. Elon Musk's companies xAI and X filed a sweeping U.S. antitrust lawsuit on Monday against Apple and OpenAI, alleging the tech giants formed an illegal partnership to stifle competition in artificial intelligence and smartphone markets.
BUSINESS / Tech
Aug 26, 2025
Musk sues Apple and OpenAI, saying they hurt AI competition
Musk is alleging the tech giants formed an illegal partnership to inhibit rivalry and innovation in artificial intelligence and smartphone markets.
As generative AI like ChatGPT becomes more popular, evidence is growing that it may harm mental health by encouraging dependency, weakening critical thinking and even contributing to delusional episodes.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Aug 25, 2025
ChatGPT’s mental health costs are adding up
From brain rot to induced psychosis, the psychological cost of generative AI is growing and flying under the radar.
Chatbots are pivoting to the ad model and optimizing for eyeballs, just like social media did. And AI knows more about us than Google or Facebook ever did.
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 21, 2025
Ads ruined social media. Now they’re coming to AI.
Imagine a person telling their AI they’re feeling depressed, and the system recommending some affordable holiday destinations or medication to address the problem.
Former Apple CEO Steve Jobs speaks in 2007 at an iPod event in San Francisco. Top tech executives are engaged in a fierce battle for the best people, with employees holding all the cards and the days of collusion long gone. 
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 17, 2025
The AI talent war is the stuff of Steve Jobs’ nightmares
Today, as some of the same players become locked in AI talent wars, we’re starting to get a sense of what Jobs was so afraid of.
SoftBank Group has emerged as the unnamed buyer of Foxconn Technology Group’s electric vehicle plant in Ohio and plans to incorporate the facility into its $500 billion Stargate data center project with OpenAI and Oracle.
BUSINESS / Companies
Aug 12, 2025
SoftBank shares surge on AI hope and sign of Stargate progress
The firm’s emergence as the unnamed buyer of Foxconn’s electric vehicle plant in Ohio is spurring optimism that it may be able to kick-start its stalled endeavor.
OpenAI CEO Sam Altman attends a talk session with SoftBank group Chairman and CEO Masayoshi Son in Tokyo on February 3.
BUSINESS / Tech
Aug 6, 2025
OpenAI releases two ‘open’ AI models after DeepSeek’s success
The release is a new business strategy for the ChatGPT developer and allows users to customize and run AI systems themselves.
Japan needs caregivers. Young Indians are answering the call.
Young people in India's northeast are increasingly studying Japanese in hopes of building new lives and careers in Japan.
Osaka trumps Tokyo as both ranked among world’s top 10 most livable cities
Osaka’s infrastructure earned higher marks than Tokyo’s in the Economist Intelligence Unit’s latest Global Liveability Index.
Japanese teen arrested for booting users off streaming service
The Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department has arrested a 15-year-old boy for allegedly creating a malicious program and canceling subscription accounts on the Bandai Channel.
Japanese payment processor’s collapse hits banks and restaurants
Zentoshin served around 200,000 shops, many of which rely on early payments to maintain cash flow, raising concerns over their financial stability following the disruption.
Long-stalled maglev line finally gets green light from Shizuoka Prefecture
Environmental concerns relating to the construction of Central Japan Railway’s high-speed maglev line had contributed to years of delays for the project.
The beating heart inside ‘Human Vapor’
Different forms of love and connection form the emotional backbone of Netflix’s “Human Vapor,” says actor Shun Oguri, who plays troubled detective Kenji Okamoto.
Japan bets on character IP to drive global growth
Born on social media platforms in 2022, Opanchu Usagi has become a major hit, especially among Generation Z.
Filmmaker explores history of discrimination against foreign nationals in Japan
Takashi Nishihara, the director of "Now and Then," in Tokyo on Wednesday. The director has spent 10 years traversing politically charged terrain while exploring youth-driven grassroots political movements that scrutinize the status quo.
Okinawa’s prized seaweed under threat as oceans warm
Local harvesters gather <i>mozuku</i> during low tide at Hyakuna Beach in the city of Nanjo, Okinawa Prefecture. As the planet warms, rising ocean temperatures are placing increasing pressure on the seaweed industry.
Japanese nail salons are tourists’ new obsession
Tourists in Japan have always been interested in quintessentially Japanese approaches to modern culture, and, increasingly, visits to nail salons have become the new hot thing.

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