OpenAI co-founder Ilya Sutskever has raised $1 billion from investors for his new AI startup Safe Superintelligence (SSI), after leaving the AI startup in May.
In a post on the company's X platform, the investment was made by Andreessen Horowitz, Sequoia Capital, DST Global and SV Angel, as well as the NFDG investment partnership led by SSI CEO Daniel Gross.
"We're going to work on one goal, one goal, and one product, directly targeting secure superintelligence," Sutskever announced his new project in a post on X in May.
Sutskever served as chief scientist at OpenAI and co-led the company's Superalignment team with Jan Leike. They left OpenAI in May to join rival AI company Anthropic. Shortly after their separation, OpenAI disbanded this team. Some team members are placed in other groups of the company.
At the time, Leike shared on X that OpenAI's "security culture and processes are behind the development of new products."
Sutskever co-founded SSI with Daniel Gross, who led Apple's AI and search efforts, and Daniel Levy, a former OpenAI employee. The company has offices in Palo Alto, California and Tel Aviv, Israel.
"SSI is our mission, our name and our entire product strategy because it is our ultimate goal," the company said on the X platform. "Our primary focus is not distracted by management burdens and product cycles, and our business model protects safety, development and security from short-term commercial pressures."
Sutskever was one of the board members involved in the temporary ouster of OpenAI co-founder and CEO Sam Altman.
In November, OpenAI's board of directors issued a statement stating that Altman "has not always been honest in his communications with the board." Later, the matter became more complicated. The Wall Street Journal and other media outlets reported that Sutskever focused on the idea that artificial intelligence would not harm humans, while others, including Altman, were more interested in introducing the new technology.
Most OpenAI employees signed an open letter in response to the board's actions and announced they would resign. A few days later, Altman returned to the company.
After Altman was abruptly fired and quickly reinstated, Sutskever publicly apologized for his role.
"I deeply regret being involved in the board's actions," Sutskever posted on X on Nov. 20. “I never wanted to harm OpenAI. I love everything we've built together and will do everything in my power to bring the company back together."
