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OpenAI Co-Founder Raises $2 Billion for Artificial Intelligence Start-Up
OpenAI co-founder Ilya Sutskever has raised $2 billion for his artificial intelligence start-up, Safe Superintelligence (SSI), in a deal that values the year-old company at $32 billion. Despite having no product, SSI has garnered significant attention from investors, underscoring their enthusiasm for backing AI start-ups led by prominent researchers or talented engineers.
Funding Round
Prominent venture capital firms participated in the latest fundraising, including Greenoaks, which led the round with $500 million, as well as Lightspeed Venture Partners and Andreessen Horowitz, said multiple people familiar with the matter. SSI last raised $1 billion at a $5 billion valuation in September.
Company Focus
SSI has set out to create AI models that are dramatically more powerful and more intelligent than current cutting-edge models from rivals such as OpenAI, Anthropic, and Google. The company has offices in Palo Alto, California, and Tel Aviv, Israel.
Unique Approach
The company has given few details about how it intends to beat those better-funded rivals, but Sutskever told the Financial Times last year that he and the team had “identified a new mountain to climb that’s a bit different from what I was working on previously.” The group has been tight-lipped even with its investors, said multiple familiar people, however, three people close to the company said it was working on unique ways of developing and scaling AI models.
Focus on Advancing Human Intelligence
Currently, large language models can synthesise and regurgitate data. While they are improving their ability to provide considered answers and perform chains of tasks, they have not been able to surpass human intelligence. People close to the company said SSI is focused on this advancement.
Background
Sutskever co-founded OpenAI and served as the San Francisco group’s chief scientist when it launched AI models and products, including chatbot ChatGPT, which kicked off the recent AI investment boom. He left OpenAI in May and his team — which was focused on “alignment”, ensuring that AI systems that surpass human intelligence will act in the human interest — was also disbanded.
Related Developments
Former colleague and ex-OpenAI chief technology officer Mira Murati has also launched an artificial intelligence start-up called Thinking Machines Lab in February. The product and research organisation aims to make “AI systems more widely understood, customisable and generally capable”. It is reportedly raising a similar-sized round.
Conclusion
SSI’s $2 billion funding round underscores the excitement around AI start-ups and their potential to revolutionize the industry. As the company continues to develop its unique approach to AI, it will be exciting to see how it progresses and what impact it will have on the field.
FAQs
Q: What is Safe Superintelligence (SSI)?
A: SSI is an artificial intelligence start-up founded by Ilya Sutskever, co-founder of OpenAI, and Daniel Gross, who led Apple’s AI efforts, and Daniel Levy, an AI researcher.
Q: What is SSI’s focus?
A: SSI is focused on creating AI models that are dramatically more powerful and more intelligent than current cutting-edge models from rivals such as OpenAI, Anthropic, and Google.
Q: Who participated in the latest fundraising round?
A: Prominent venture capital firms participated in the latest fundraising, including Greenoaks, Lightspeed Venture Partners, and Andreessen Horowitz.
Q: What is the valuation of SSI?
A: The company is valued at $32 billion, a significant increase from its previous valuation of $5 billion.
Q: What is the background of Ilya Sutskever?
A: Sutskever co-founded OpenAI and served as the San Francisco group’s chief scientist when it launched AI models and products, including chatbot ChatGPT. He left OpenAI in May and his team was also disbanded.
