SSI
Safe Superintelligence Inc. (SSI) is an Israeli-American AI company founded in June 2024 by Ilya Sutskever, Daniel Gross, and Daniel Levy. The company pursues a single goal: building a safe superintelligence through a 'straight-shot' research approach focused on alignment and true general reasoning, without commercial product releases or short-term revenue cycles.
Events
Ilya Sutskever Leaves OpenAI
On May 15, 2024, Ilya Sutskever, OpenAI's co-founder and chief scientist, announced his departure from the company. His exit followed a November 2023 board dispute in which he voted to oust CEO Sam Altman amid concerns about communication and trust. Sutskever also believed that OpenAI was neglecting its original safety mission in favor of commercialization, setting the stage for his next venture focused on AI safety.
Founding of Safe Superintelligence Inc.
On June 19, 2024, Sutskever announced the founding of Safe Superintelligence Inc. (SSI) alongside co-founders Daniel Gross, former head of Apple's AI efforts, and Daniel Levy, a former AI researcher at OpenAI. The company, headquartered in Palo Alto and Tel Aviv with a small team, pursued a single mission: safely developing superintelligence. Sutskever described it as a 'straight-shot' approach focused solely on building one product -- a safe superintelligence -- without the distractions of commercial product releases.
Location: Palo Alto, California, United States
$1 Billion Seed Funding Round
In September 2024, SSI raised $1 billion from venture capital firms including SV Angel, DST Global, Sequoia Capital, and Andreessen Horowitz. The funding valued the company at approximately $5 billion. Despite having no product, no revenue, and fewer than 20 employees, the raise reflected investor confidence driven by Sutskever's reputation as one of the foremost figures in AI research and his commitment to prioritizing safety in the development of superintelligence.
Location: Palo Alto, California, United States
$30 Billion Valuation Led by Greenoaks Capital
In March 2025, SSI reached a $30 billion valuation in a funding round led by Greenoaks Capital, six times its previous $5 billion valuation from September 2024. The company had approximately 20 employees and had not yet generated revenue, but investor interest remained intense due to Sutskever's stature and SSI's singular focus on safe superintelligence. The raise brought total funding to approximately $3 billion.
Location: Palo Alto, California, United States
Daniel Gross Departs, Sutskever Becomes Sole CEO
In July 2025, co-founder Daniel Gross left SSI to join Meta Superintelligence Labs. Following Gross's departure, Sutskever became the sole CEO of SSI, consolidating leadership as the company continued its research into safe superintelligence. The departure of a co-founder was a significant moment, but Sutskever's full assumption of leadership reaffirmed the company's direction and mission.
Location: Palo Alto, California, United States
SSI Announces Multi-Billion Dollar Strategic Partnership with NVIDIA
Safe Superintelligence Inc. (SSI) announced a long-term strategic partnership with NVIDIA, with NVIDIA making an equity investment in SSI and committing to supply its next-generation Vera Rubin compute systems. The deal, widely reported at approximately $5 billion, expands SSI's compute capacity by an order of magnitude and marks SSI's first major public announcement after two years operating in stealth. The partnership gives NVIDIA access to SSI's safety research in return.