Rene Haas, CEO of SoftBank’s chip design company Arm, said in a recent interview that he is worried that humans may lose control of artificial intelligence (AI). When asked what keeps him up at night thinking about artificial intelligence, Haas noted, "My biggest concern is the inability of humans to control artificial intelligence." He said people have to have some control, a backdoor and a way to close it.
Haas conducted the interview at Arm's headquarters in Cambridge, England. He estimates that 70% of the world's population has been exposed to products designed by Arm in some way.
As Haas ponders the potential drawbacks of artificial intelligence, he also believes that Arm's next chapter will see the company become as important to the generative AI revolution as it is to smartphones, where Arm's chip designs are now ubiquitous.
Haas said, "Artificial intelligence will be integrated into everything we do, into every aspect of how we work, live and play. This will change everything in the next five to 10 years."
Haas, who became CEO of Arm in February last year, has been trying to apply Arm's technology to areas such as PCs, servers and electric vehicles to reduce Arm's dependence on the shrinking smartphone industry. The company is also offering more complete designs to mobile phone customers, aiming to generate more revenue from each device sold.
In the smartphone market, Arm is already everywhere. Of the 1.4 billion smartphones sold every year, almost all processors are embedded with Arm's instruction set, and more than 99% of them use Arm's design or technology.
Now, Haas also sees exciting opportunities in the cloud data center space. Large language models (such as OpenAI's ChatGPT and Google's Bard) require large amounts of storage and data capacity, and Haas aims to capture 50% of the global market share in the next few years.
Of course, ambition alone does not guarantee success, and whether Arm can become central to the future of artificial intelligence remains to be seen. So far, the main beneficiary of this craze is Nvidia. However, Arm’s prospects are still broad. According to Arm Chief Financial Officer Jason Child’s roadshow in September, Arm’s revenue opportunity will increase to $28 billion by 2025, growing at an annual rate of 17%.
Haas has also focused on dominating so-called edge computing — systems that run from devices in the home or office rather than from a central cloud.
Haas noted, “As these edge devices become more and more intelligent and more and more technology is stuffed into this pocket, this is a very good opportunity for Arm.”
In the latest interview, Haas also mentioned the impact of geopolitical factors on the company's business. China presents both opportunities and risks to Arm. About 25% of the company's revenue comes from the world's second largest economy. Arm needs to deal with U.S. restrictions on exporting high-end chips to China while maintaining its share of the Chinese market.
"I think CEOs 10 years ago were talking to government officials far less frequently than they are today," Haas noted.
Haas said that while the company adapts to changes in the Chinese market, a more pressing issue is access to talent, especially in the UK.
He said the UK remained central to the company's future, but politicians should not ignore the need for overseas talent for technology companies to grow their ranks. "We were born here and we intend to stay here. Please make it easier for us to attract world-class talent and attract engineers to work at Arm."