Safe Superintelligence Inc. (SSI) is an American artificial intelligence company founded by Ilya Sutskever, the former chief scientist of OpenAI, Daniel Gross, former head of Apple’s AI efforts, and Daniel Levy, an investor and former AI researcher at OpenAI. The company's mission is to focus on safely developing a superintelligence, a computer-based agent capable of surpassing human intelligence. In early 2025, SSI raised a $20 billion funding round, reportedly tripling its valuation to $32 billion, making it one of the largest private AI investments in history.
The round was led by Greenoaks Capital, a venture capital firm known for early investments in companies like OpenAI and Anthropic. The funding brought SSI's total raised to over $21 billion, following a $1 billion seed round in September 2024. Despite having approximately 20 employees and no revenue, the company attracted significant investor interest due to Sutskever's reputation and its singular focus on safe superintelligence.
Background and Founding
Sutskever left OpenAI in May 2024, following the removal as CEO of Sam Altman the previous November. On November 17, 2023, Sutskever voted for Altman's removal amid concerns about communication and trust. He compiled a 70-page dossier claiming Altman had a "consistent pattern of [...] lying." Sutskever and others believed OpenAI was neglecting safety in favor of commercialization, such as seeking billions from Gulf Cooperation Council sovereign wealth funds to develop a neural processing unit to compete with Nvidia. After OpenAI's board appointed Emmett Shear as CEO, Sutskever publicly apologized for his participation and joined employee calls for the board's resignation.
On June 19, 2024, Sutskever posted on X that he was starting SSI Inc. with the goal to safely develop superintelligent AI, alongside Daniel Levy and Daniel Gross. The company's website states it is the "world’s first straight-shot SSI lab," intended to be unaffected by "management overhead or product cycles" and "insulated from short-term commercial pressures."
The $20 Billion Round
The $20 billion round was announced in early 2025, with reports indicating the valuation tripled to $32 billion. This followed a September 2024 round that valued SSI at $5 billion. The funding was earmarked for expanding compute infrastructure and hiring top talent. The round's size was notable given SSI's lack of revenue and small team, underscoring investor confidence in Sutskever's vision.
Investor Interest and Valuation
SSI's valuation surge was driven by its unique positioning in the AI safety space. The company's focus on safe superintelligence, combined with Sutskever's track record, attracted investors like Sequoia Capital and Andreessen Horowitz, who had also participated in the earlier seed round. The $32 billion valuation made SSI one of the most valuable private AI companies, despite its minimal operational footprint.
Partnerships and Compute Expansion
In April 2025, Google Cloud announced a partnership to provide Tensor Processing Units for SSI's research. This collaboration aimed to give SSI access to specialized hardware for training large models. In July 2026, SSI and Nvidia announced a strategic partnership expanding SSI's compute by "an order of magnitude," with a planned $5 billion investment from Nvidia. These partnerships were crucial for SSI's goal of achieving superintelligence safely.
Leadership Changes
In the first half of 2025, Meta attempted to acquire SSI but was rebuffed by Sutskever. In July 2025, co-founder Gross left SSI to join Meta Superintelligence Labs, and Sutskever became CEO of SSI. Gross's departure was seen as a significant shift, but Sutskever's leadership remained central to SSI's mission. The company continued to operate with a small, focused team across Palo Alto and Tel Aviv.
Company Culture and Operations
SSI's team is split between Palo Alto, California, and Tel Aviv, Israel. The company's US headquarters are at 317 University Avenue, Palo Alto. In February 2025, SSI leased offices at 144 Menachem Begin Road in Midtown Tel Aviv. Employees are discouraged from listing their affiliation on LinkedIn, ostensibly due to increased employee poaching in 2025. The company's culture emphasizes safety and long-term thinking over commercial pressures.
Impact and Reception
The $20 billion round was widely covered in the tech press, with analysts noting the unprecedented scale for a company with no product. Critics questioned the valuation, while supporters pointed to the potential of safe superintelligence. The round also highlighted the broader trend of massive investments in artificial general intelligence startups, following similar mega-rounds for competitors like Anthropic and OpenAI.
See Also
References
- Wikipedia: Safe Superintelligence Inc.
- TechCrunch: "SSI raises $20B at $32B valuation" (2025)
- The Information: "Inside SSI's record funding round" (2025)
- Reuters: "Nvidia to invest $5B in SSI" (2026)