Just three months after its launch, Safe Superintelligence (SSI), a new AI startup founded by OpenAI co-founder Ilya Sutskever, has secured $1 billion in funding. The investment round, led by venture capital giants Sequoia and Andreessen Horowitz, values the company at approximately $5 billion, according to a report by the Financial Times.
Sutskever, who left OpenAI in May this year after a failed bid to remove CEO Sam Altman, started SSI with the goal of developing ‘safe’ AI models. The company aims to create AI systems that are not only highly capable but also aligned with human values and interests.
“We’ve identified a new challenge that differs from what I was previously working on. We’re not just trying to accelerate down the same path. Doing something different allows for the possibility of achieving something special,” Sutskever told the Financial Times.
The substantial funding will be used to acquire the computing resources needed for AI model development and to expand SSI’s current team of 10 employees. The company is actively recruiting, with positions available in Palo Alto, California, and Tel Aviv, Israel.
SSI’s focus on safety and alignment sets it apart from other AI companies like OpenAI, Anthropic, and Elon Musk’s xAI, which are developing AI models for a wide range of consumer and business applications. In contrast, SSI is solely dedicated to what it describes as a ‘straight shot to safe superintelligence.’
Daniel Gross, SSI’s CEO, highlighted the importance of this focused approach in a statement to Reuters: “It’s crucial for us to be surrounded by investors who understand, respect, and support our mission, which is to make a direct path to safe superintelligence and dedicate several years to R&D before launching a product.”
