Ilya Sutskever, co-founder and former chief scientist of OpenAI, has launched his new AI company, Safe Superintelligence Inc. (SSI).
SSI’s formation comes just one month after Ilya Sutskever formally departed from OpenAI. His whereabouts were unknown until now when he broke his silence, introducing SSI as a mission-driven company with a singular focus on developing safe superintelligence.
Alongside him are co-founders Daniel Gross, formerly of Y Combinator, and Daniel Levy, an ex-OpenAI engineer aiming to create a secure artificial intelligence system within a pure research organization, one which will be free from the distractions faced by other AI giants such as OpenAI, Google, and Anthropic.
Unlike its competitors, SSI will not chase after immediate commercial gains. Sutskever explained to Bloomberg that SSI’s first product will be the safe superintelligence itself.
The company will not divert its attention to other products or services until this goal is achieved. In insulating itself from external pressures and competitive rat races, SSI aims to advance capabilities while ensuring safety remains paramount.
Sutskever is striving for AI safety. During his time at OpenAI, he helped to improve AI safety, collaborating closely with Jan Leike on superintelligent AI systems.
In a 2023 blog post co-authored with Leike, Sutskever warned that AI surpassing human intelligence could arrive within the decade — a development that demands solid research into control mechanisms.
SSI is in contrast to OpenAI’s original non-profit model. Designed from the ground up as a for-profit entity, SSI aims to attract capital without compromising its mission. While funding details remain undisclosed, the team’s credentials and the urgency of their mission reveal that SSI may soon be well-capitalized.
SSI operates from offices in Palo Alto and Tel Aviv. The company is currently recruiting technical talent to join its ranks. With a focus on huge engineering and scientific innovations, SSI aims to scale its works while maintaining a laser focus on safety.
Daniel Gross, one of SSI’s co-founders, sums up their approach as “Out of all the problems we face, raising capital is not going to be one of them.”
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