Safe Superintelligence (SSI), co-founded by former OpenAI chief scientist Ilya Sutskever, has raised $1 billion (about Rs 8,398 crore) in cash to help develop safe artificial intelligence (AI) systems, company officials said. Far beyond human capabilities. Reuters.
SSI, which currently has 10 employees, plans to use the funds to gain computing power and hire top talent. It will focus on building a small, highly reliable team of researchers and engineers divided between Palo Alto, California and Tel Aviv, Israel.
The company declined to share its valuation, but sources close to the matter said it is valued at $5 billion (roughly Rs. 41,993 crore). The funding underscores how some investors are still willing to bet big on exceptional talent focused on fundamental AI research. This is despite a general lack of interest in funding companies that may be unprofitable for some time, and which has caused many startup founders to leave their positions to tech giants.
Investors include top venture capital firms Andreessen Horowitz, Sequoia Capital, DST Global and SV Angel. NFDG, an investment partnership run by Nat Friedman and SSI Chief Executive Daniel Gross, also participated.
“It is important for us to be surrounded by investors who understand, respect and support our mission, which is to create a direct shot at safe superintelligence and especially before we bring it to market. “To spend a few years doing research and development on our product.” Gross said in an interview.
AI safety, which refers to preventing AI from causing harm, is a hot topic amid fears that rogue AI could work against humanity’s interests or even cause human extinction.
A California bill seeking to impose safety regulations on companies has divided the industry. Companies such as OpenAI and Google have opposed it, and Anthropic and Elon Musk’s XAI have supported it.
Sutskever, 37, is one of AI’s most influential technologists. He co-founded SSI in June with Gross, who previously led AI initiatives at Apple, and former OpenAI researcher Daniel Levy. Sutskever is the chief scientist and Levy is the lead scientist, while Gross is responsible for computing power and fundraising.
new mountain
Sutskever said his new venture is meaningful because he has “identified a mountain that is a little different than the one I was working on.”
Last year, he was part of the board of OpenAI’s nonprofit parent, which voted to oust OpenAI CEO Sam Altman over a “breakdown of communication.”
Within days, he reversed his decision and joined almost all of OpenAI’s employees in signing a letter demanding Altman’s return and resignation from the board. But developments reduced his role in OpenAI. He was removed from the board and left the company in May.
After Sutskever’s departure, the company disbanded his “SuperAlignment” team, which worked to ensure that AI remained aligned with human values in preparation for the day when AI would surpass human intelligence. .
Unlike OpenAI’s unconventional corporate structure, which was implemented for AI security reasons but which made it possible to oust Altman, SSI has a regular profit structure.
SSI is currently focusing heavily on hiring people who will fit into its culture.
Gross said he spends hours checking whether candidates have “good character”, and is looking for people with extraordinary abilities rather than placing more emphasis on credentials and experience in the field.
He said, “One of the things that excites us is when you get people who are interested in the work, but not interested in the scene, the promotion.”
SSI says it plans to partner with cloud providers and chip companies to meet its computing power needs, but has not yet decided which companies it will work with. AI startups often work with companies like Microsoft and Nvidia to meet their infrastructure needs.
Sutskever was an early proponent of scaling, a hypothesis that the performance of AI models would improve when given massive amounts of computing power. The idea and its implementation sparked a wave of AI investments in chips, data centers, and energy, laying the groundwork for generative AI advances like ChatGPIT.
Without sharing details, Sutskever said he would approach scaling differently than his former employer.
“Everyone just says the scaling hypothesis. Everyone neglects to ask what are we scaling?” He said.
“Some people can work really long hours and they’ll go down the same path faster. That’s not our style. But if you do something different, it’s possible for you to do something special.”
© Thomson Reuters 2024
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