Ilya Sutskever, a co-founder of OpenAI who departed the artificial intelligence startup in May, has raised $1 billion for his new venture, Safe Superintelligence, or SSI, from investors.
In a post on X, the company disclosed that investors included SV Angel, DST Global, Sequoia Capital, Andreessen Horowitz, and NFDG, an investment partnership co-managed by SSI executive Daniel Gross.
In May, Sutskever announced the new endeavor on X, writing, “We will pursue safe superintelligence in a straight shot, with one focus, one goal, and one product.”
Chief scientist Sutskever co-led the Superalignment team at OpenAI with Jan Leike, who departed in May to work for competitor artificial intelligence company Anthropic. Only a year after announcing the group, OpenAI dissolved the team shortly after their departures.
At the time, Leike stated that OpenAI’s “safety culture and processes have taken a backseat to shiny products” in a post on X.
Along with Daniel Levy, a former employee of OpenAI, and Daniel Gross, who handled Apple’s AI and search initiatives, Sutskever founded SSI. The business maintains offices in Tel Aviv, Israel, and Palo Alto, California.
The corporation wrote on X, “SSI is our mission, our name, and our entire product roadmap, because it is our sole focus.” “Our singular focus means no distraction by management overhead or product cycles, and our business model means safety, security, and progress are all insulated from short-term commercial pressures.”
Sam Altman, the CEO and co-founder of OpenAI, was temporarily removed in November, with Sutskever being one of the board members engaged.
In November, Altman was not “consistently candid in his communications with the board,” according to a statement released by OpenAI’s board. Things looked more complicated very quickly. As reported by the Wall Street Journal and other media, Altman and Sutskever were more keen to advance the delivery of new technology, while Sutskever focused on making sure that artificial intelligence would not damage people.
An open letter indicating their intention to quit in response to the board’s decision was signed by nearly every employee of OpenAI. After a few days, Altman returned to the organization.
Sutskever apologized to the public for his part in the ordeal after Altman’s abrupt dismissal and before his prompt reinstatement.
On November 20, Sutskever posted on X, saying, “I deeply regret my participation in the board’s actions.” “I never intended to harm OpenAI. I love everything we’ve built together and I will do everything I can to reunite the company.”Ilya Sutskever, a co-founder of OpenAI, raises $1 billion for his new AI company