SoftBank junk bond sale raises stakes for CEO Son's all-in AI bet SoftBank Group Chairman and CEO Masayoshi Son's bets have a mixed track record -- his investment in Chinese tech giant Alibaba was a major success, but he also directed $16 billion to Adam Neumann's WeWork, which ultimately went bankrupt. SoftBank's promise to pay its highest-ever yields in a record $11 billion junk-bond offering highlights the pressure on CEO Masayoshi Son to secure returns on his all-in bet on artificial intelligence amid concerns about possible overheating in the market. The SoftBank debt issuance last month added to a sharp surge in corporate borrowing this year, including major bond sales from Amazon, Alphabet and Tencent. The scale of Son's investments, which include backing totaling $64.6 billion for ChatGPT maker OpenAI, in particular, has made the technology-and-investing conglomerate a bellwether for AI sentiment. In a time of both misinformation and too much information, quality journalism is more crucial than ever.

OpenAI discovered a recording device plugged into a USB port on the back of a television in an executive conference room at one of its San Francisco buildings last month. U.S. federal agents have arrested a Saudi national who was an OpenAI engineer and charged him with installing a hidden audio recording device in an executive conference room at the AI company, the Justice Department said on Tuesday. The case highlights growing security concerns around sensitive AI research as companies and governments compete fiercely for the talent and technology that could confer economic and strategic advantages. Abdulrahman Alfozan, 35, had worked as an engineer at OpenAI since July 2025, the Justice Department said in a statement. An email sent to an address associated with that name did not elicit a response, and it was not immediately clear who his lawyer was.

The international technology exhibition CEATEC 2026 opens at Makuhari Messe in Chiba on Tuesday. CHIBA - Artificial intelligence and other cutting-edge digital technologies are on display as the CEATEC international exhibition opened on Tuesday at the Makuhari Messe convention center in Chiba, joined by 821 companies and organizations from Japan and abroad. "As societal challenges become increasingly complex, it is important not only to create new technologies, but also to change the future of industries, society and people's lives for the better," Takashi Niino, chair of the Japan Electronics and Information Technology Industries Association, an industry group that organizes the four-day event, said in a speech at an opening ceremony. Among the exhibitors, Mitsubishi Electric demonstrated AI technology capable of identifying abnormal sounds and human voices in noisy manufacturing environments. Hitachi presented its efforts to improve the efficiency of social infrastructure operations, including railways and power systems, using AI, while NEC showcased a service designed to protect organizations from cyberattacks.

Image caption, The hikes are part of immigration policy changes introduced to manage Japan's growing foreign population Japan has raised fees for foreigners looking to reside in the country, with the cost of permanent residency going up 20 times to 200,000 yen ($1,270; £955). Those seeking permanent residency must now also meet new income, pension and Japanese-language requirements. Long lines formed outside immigration offices earlier this week as applicants sought to beat the fee hikes, with Tokyo's main immigration bureau reporting wait times of over seven hours. The fee increases are part of a series of changes to Japan's immigration policy under Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi, which aim ito manage its rapidly growing foreign population. In July, Japan implemented a five-fold increase in visa fees for all foreigners - its first visa fee hike in 50 years.

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OpenAI's launch of ChatGPT in November 2022 has spurred a cascade of articles and commentary on artificial intelligence. The discussion, however, reveals how much artificial intelligence is already deployed. Artificial intelligence (AI) is one of those technologies with a long history of disappointment. Dating back to Alan Turing at the start of the theory of computing (or, more technically, computability), interest reached a high point with the development of "expert systems" in the early 1980s. These systems created great excitement about the possibilities of AI, but delivery was disappointing. As a result, histories of AI (see note) refer to the following period as the "AI Winter". Both major parties took policies supporting AI to the last federal election. A survey of voters, even knowledgeable ones, on policy commitments made for that election is unlikely to turn up AI as an important policy position. On the other hand, ChatGPT has been a big story for some of us, with suggestions that it can take over many jobs and concerns about the integrity of academic credentialing.

The Canadian government is preparing to welcome thousands of highly skilled tech workers who have been blocked from entering or staying in the U.S. due to President Donald Trump's executive order that effectively suspended new work visas for the remainder of the year. "If you don't want to go to the [U.S.], come to us, we will take you," said Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. "If you want to bring someone in to work in your company at a certain high-tech job or a high-value job, we'll give you a visa in two weeks to get them to come in. Regardless of what happens in the United States, Canada continues to be welcoming and excited about people coming to Canada." Alex Lu, a 26-year-old Chinese software engineer in San Francisco on an H1-B work visa, is planning to relocate to Canada in two years.

The Japanese government plans to grant highly skilled foreign people permanent residency after they live in Japan for at least one year, informed sources said Saturday. Currently, people such as researchers and corporate managers can become permanent residents if they stay in the country for at least five years. The government is now working to shorten the required period to basically three years, the sources said. But specialists in artificial intelligence, researchers in regenerative medicine, big investors and other people who satisfy special conditions will only need to reside in Japan for one year to gain permanent residency, they added. Calling it important to take in highly developed human resources for Japan's survival amid intensifying global competition, the government of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe clarified in its growth strategy adopted in June a policy to make the immigration system attractive to highly skilled foreign professionals. As of the end of 2015, 3,840 such foreigners worked in Japan.