OpenAI co-founder Ilya Sutskever, who left the artificial intelligence startup in May, has raised $1B from investors for his new AI company, Safe Superintelligence, or SSI. Safe Superintelligence (SSI), newly co-founded by Ilya Sutskever, has received funding to help develop safe artificial intelligence systems that far surpass human capabilities, as per company.

The company announced in a post on X that investors included Andreessen Horowitz, Sequoia Capital, DST Global and SV Angel, as well as NFDG, an investment partnership co-run by SSI executive Daniel Gross.

Sutskever AI safety startup

Sutskever started SSI with Daniel Gross, who oversaw Apple’s AI and search efforts, and former OpenAI employee Daniel Levy. The company has offices in Palo Alto, California, and Tel Aviv, Israel.

“SSI is our mission, our name, and our entire product roadmap, because it is our sole focus,” the company posted on X. “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.”

Sutskever was one of the OpenAI board members involved in the temporary ouster of co-founder and CEO Sam Altman in November.

How Sutskever’s AI safety startup plans to use funding?

SSI, which currently has 10 employees, plans to use the funds to acquire computing power and hire top talent. It will focus on building a small highly trusted team of researchers and engineers split between Palo Alto, California and Tel Aviv, Israel.

The company declined to share its valuation but sources close to the matter said it was valued at $5 billion. The funding underlines how some investors are still willing to make outsized bets on exceptional talent focused on foundational AI research. That’s despite a general waning in interest towards funding such companies which can be unprofitable for some time, and which has caused several startup founders to leave their posts for tech giants.

OpenAI co-founder Sutskever AI startup’s investors

Investors for the AI firm included top venture capital firms Andreessen Horowitz, Sequoia Capital, DST Global and SV Angel. NFDG, an investment partnership run by Nat Friedman and SSI’s Chief Executive Daniel Gross, also participated.

“It’s important for us to be surrounded by investors who understand, respect and support our mission, which is to make a straight shot to safe superintelligence and in particular to spend a couple of years doing R&D on our product before bringing it to market,” Gross said in an interview.

Why Sutskever’s AI safety startup important?

AI safety, which refers to preventing AI from causing harm, is a hot topic amid fears that rogue AI could act against the interests of humanity or even cause human extinction.

A California bill seeking to impose safety regulations on companies has split the industry. It is opposed by companies like OpenAI and Google , and supported by Anthropic and Elon Musk’s xAI.

Sutskever, 37, is one of the most influential technologists in AI. He co-founded SSI in June with Gross, who previously led AI initiatives at Apple (AAPL.O), opens new tab, and Daniel Levy, a former OpenAI researcher.

Sutskever is chief scientist and Levy is principal scientist, while Gross is responsible for computing power and fundraising.

Sutskever said his new venture made sense because he “identified a mountain that’s a bit different from what I was working on.”

SSI on hiring spree

SSI is currently very much focused on hiring people who will fit in with its culture.

Gross said they spend hours vetting if candidates have “good character”, and are looking for people with extraordinary capabilities rather than overemphasizing credentials and experience in the field.

“One thing that excites us is when you find people that are interested in the work, that are not interested in the scene, in the hype,” he added.

SSI says it plans to partner with cloud providers and chip companies to fund its computing power needs but hasn’t yet decided which firms it will work with.

Sutskever for scaling

Sutskever was an early advocate of scaling, a hypothesis that AI models would improve in performance given vast amounts of computing power. The idea and its execution kicked off a wave of AI investment in chips, data centers and energy, laying the groundwork for generative AI advances like ChatGPT.

Sutskever said he will approach scaling in a different way than his former employer, without sharing details.

SSI’s future

Investors are betting on Sutskever’s talent and vision, despite broader concerns about the long-term profitability of AI research companies. The funding will be used to acquire computing power and hire top talent, as SSI looks to collaborate with cloud and chip providers to meet its infrastructure needs.

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