Safe Superintelligence (SSI), a new AI startup co-founded by former OpenAI chief scientist Ilya Sutskever, has successfully raised $1 billion from prominent investors including Sequoia and Andreessen Horowitz.
TakeAway Points:
- Ilya Sutskever, the former head scientist of OpenAI, co-founded Safe Superintelligence, which raised $1 billion and was valued at $5 billion.
- In addition to going through major organisational changes, OpenAI is looking for funding that may put its value at $100 billion.
- Nvidia was one of the investors in You.com, which raised $50 million to improve its AI-powered search engine and productivity tools.
Safe Superintelligence raises $1 billion
The funding round values the three-month-old company at approximately $5 billion, despite it currently having no product. SSI plans to use the investment to enhance its computing resources and expand its team, which currently consists of 10 members. The company was founded by Sutskever alongside AI investors Nat Friedman and Daniel Gross and former OpenAI researcher Daniel Levy.
Sutskever explained the company’s unique approach, stating, “We’ve identified a new mountain to climb that’s a bit different from what I was working on previously. We’re not trying to go down the same path faster. If you do something different, then it becomes possible for you to do something special.” SSI aims to develop cutting-edge AI models with a focus on “building a straight shot to safe superintelligence,” positioning itself as a challenger to established AI firms like OpenAI, Anthropic, and Elon Musk’s xAI.
Gross, SSI’s CEO, emphasised the importance of investor alignment with their mission, saying, “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.” The company is actively recruiting in a competitive labour market for AI expertise, with offices in Palo Alto, California, and Tel Aviv, Israel.
The organisational shifts at OpenAI
OpenAI, the creator of ChatGPT, is undergoing significant organisational changes as it seeks to attract investments from major companies like Microsoft, Apple, Nvidia, and Thrive. The company is in discussions for a deal that could value it at $100 billion.
OpenAI has hired several high-profile executives and added seven board members, including a four-star Army general who previously led the National Security Agency. These changes are part of an effort to ensure that its AI technologies do not cause serious harm and to present itself as a more stable and mature company.
Bret Taylor, OpenAI’s new chairman, commented on the transformation, stating, “While start-ups must naturally evolve and adapt as their impact grows, we recognise OpenAI is navigating this transformation at an unprecedented pace. Our board and the dedicated team at OpenAI remain focused on safely building AI that can solve hard problems for everyone.” Despite these efforts, the company continues to face internal challenges, with early employees leaving and new hires joining at a rapid pace.
OpenAI’s leadership, including CEO Sam Altman, has been actively involved in recruiting new executives. The company has also faced criticism from former employees who questioned its direction and management practices. One former researcher, William Saunders, expressed concerns about the company’s ability to manage the risks associated with advanced AI systems, stating, “I’m still afraid that OpenAI and other A.I. companies don’t have an adequate plan to manage the risks of the human-level and beyond-human-level A.I. systems they are raising billions of dollars to build.”
You.com gets $50 million in investment
You.com, an AI-powered search engine and productivity tool startup, has raised $50 million in a new funding round. The round was led by Georgian, with participation from Nvidia Corp., Duck Duck Go Inc., SBVA (formerly Softbank Ventures Asia), Salesforce Ventures, and Day One Ventures.
This latest funding brings the company’s total capital raised to $99 million. Founder and CEO Richard Socher, who previously served as Salesforce Inc.’s chief scientist, aims to position You.com as a productivity tool for workplaces, offering more complex answers and summarizing information from multiple websites with citations.
Socher highlighted the company’s unique value proposition, stating, “We don’t just give you a list of blue links when you ask a question.” You.com works with a range of large language models, including those from OpenAI, Google, Cohere, and Meta Platforms Inc., and is also developing its own LLM. The startup claims millions of daily users, including organisations like Salesforce, Stanford University, and Hugging Face. The company charges customers based on their usage of the service.
Nvidia’s significant investment in the funding round underscores the demand for AI tools within workplaces.
“The backing from corporate investors is evidence that there’s demand for this kind of AI tool within workplaces.” Socher noted.
The company is also adding the ability to create custom AI agents to assist with tasks at work, further enhancing its productivity offerings.
