diff --git a/keras/src/layers/activations/softmax.py b/keras/src/layers/activations/softmax.py
index 8660877977ec..dc233ac92742 100644
--- a/keras/src/layers/activations/softmax.py
+++ b/keras/src/layers/activations/softmax.py
@@ -52,10 +52,15 @@ def __init__(self, axis=-1, **kwargs):
 
     def call(self, inputs, mask=None):
         if mask is not None:
-            adder = (
-                1.0 - backend.cast(mask, inputs.dtype)
-            ) * _large_negative_number(inputs.dtype)
-            inputs += adder
+            # We keep the positions where the mask is True or > 0.5, and set the
+            # other (masked) positions to -1e.9.
+            if backend.standardize_dtype(mask.dtype) != "bool":
+                mask = backend.numpy.greater(
+                    mask, backend.cast(0.5, dtype=mask.dtype)
+                )
+            inputs = backend.numpy.where(
+                mask, inputs, _large_negative_number(inputs.dtype)
+            )
         if isinstance(self.axis, (tuple, list)):
             if len(self.axis) > 1:
                 outputs = backend.numpy.exp(