OpenAI’s former chief scientist Ilya Sutskever is starting a new AI company, barely one month after announcing his departure from OpenAI. “I am starting a new company,” called Safe Superintelligence Inc. (SSI), he announced late Wednesday.
Also read: OpenAI’s Chief Scientist, Ilya Sutskever, Bids Farewell
SSI is based in America and has offices in Palo Alto and Tel Aviv. In an official post, the startup said it has “one goal and one product: a safe superintelligence.”
“We will pursue safe superintelligence in a straight shot, with one focus, one goal, and one product. We will do it through revolutionary breakthroughs produced by a small cracked team,” Sutskever said.
“Our singular focus means no distraction,” says SSI
SSI is currently led by Sutskever, Daniel Gross, and another former OpenAI researcher, Daniel Levy. The investors behind the startup remain unknown at the time of writing.
However, the company noted in the announcement that the entire “team, investors, and business model are all aligned to achieve “a safe superintelligence.” The remark somewhat comes off as a shade at OpenAI, which was once sued by Elon Musk for putting profit first before humanity and abandoning its original mission.
“Our singular focus means no distraction by management overhead or product cycles, and our business model means safety, security, and progress are all insulated from short-term commercial pressures.”
SSI
Sutskever announced he’s leaving OpenAI on May 15 after working for almost a decade at the leading AI company. Before then, he had gone radio silent following a failed attempt to oust the CEO Sam Altman from OpenAI in December last year.
After almost a decade, I have made the decision to leave OpenAI. The company’s trajectory has been nothing short of miraculous, and I’m confident that OpenAI will build AGI that is both safe and beneficial under the leadership of @sama, @gdb, @miramurati and now, under the…
— Ilya Sutskever (@ilyasut) May 14, 2024
Another OpenAI executive, Jan Leike, resigned following Sutskever. Both of them co-led the Superalignment team at OpenAI, which is responsible for preventing superintelligent AI models from going rogue.
Also read: Another OpenAI Exec, Jan Leike Quits
Sutskever didn’t clearly state his reasons for leaving OpenAI. However, Leike cited safety concerns at the firm, saying that “over the past years, safety culture and processes have taken a backseat to shiny products.”
“I joined because I thought OpenAI would be the best place in the world to do this research,” Leike said. “However, I have been disagreeing with OpenAI leadership about the company’s core priorities for quite some time until we finally reached a breaking point,” he added.
SSI is not the first to branch out from OpenAI
Leike joined OpenAI’s competitor, Anthropic, as an ML Researcher on May 28, while Sutskever has gone to build his new AI company – which has become a reoccurrence.
Noteworthily, SSI won’t be the first company to branch out from OpenAI. In 2021, two former employees at OpenAI left the firm to co-found Anthropic, which is now valued at $18.4 billion, post-money, as of May 13.
Anthropic founders had also left OpenAI due to disagreements with Sam Altman regarding the safe developments of AI.
Cryptopolitan reporting by Ibiam Wayas
