{"id":178518,"date":"2025-07-03T17:29:07","date_gmt":"2025-07-03T17:29:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/entertainment.runfyers.com\/index.php\/2025\/07\/03\/ilya-sutskever-will-lead-safe-superintelligence-following-his-ceos-exit-techcrunch\/"},"modified":"2025-07-03T17:29:07","modified_gmt":"2025-07-03T17:29:07","slug":"ilya-sutskever-will-lead-safe-superintelligence-following-his-ceos-exit-techcrunch","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/entertainment.runfyers.com\/index.php\/2025\/07\/03\/ilya-sutskever-will-lead-safe-superintelligence-following-his-ceos-exit-techcrunch\/","title":{"rendered":"Ilya Sutskever will lead Safe Superintelligence following his CEO’s exit | TechCrunch"},"content":{"rendered":"


\n<\/p>\n

\n

OpenAI co-founder Ilya Sutskever says he is stepping into the CEO role at Safe Superintelligence, the AI startup he launched in 2024.\u00a0In a\u00a0post on X, Sutskever confirmed Thursday that Daniel Gross, the startup\u2019s co-founder and CEO, departed the company as of June 29. Safe Superintelligence co-founder Daniel Levy is becoming president of the startup, according to Sutskever.<\/p>\n

The announcement follows weeks of reporting that Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg was in advanced talks to hire Gross<\/a>, as well as his longtime investing partner, former GitHub CEO Nat Friedman. At one point, Zuckerberg reportedly attempted to acquire all of Safe Superintelligence, a startup most recently valued at $32 billion. Sutskever addressed those reports as well.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou might have heard rumors of companies looking to acquire us. We are flattered by their attention but are focused on seeing our work through,\u201d said Sutskever. \u201cWe have the compute, we have the team, and we know what to do. Together we will keep building safe superintelligence.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n
\n
\n

I sent the following message to our team and investors:
\u2014<\/p>\n

As you know, Daniel Gross\u2019s time with us has been winding down, and as of June 29 he is officially no longer a part of SSI. We are grateful for his early contributions to the company and wish him well in his next\u2026<\/p>\n

\u2014 Ilya Sutskever (@ilyasut) July 3, 2025<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n

Naturally, Gross\u2019 departure may raise questions around the startup. If Safe Superintelligence was close to its goal \u2014 surely a groundbreaking technology, as it\u2019s described \u2014 why would its co-founder leave to start something new, seemingly at Meta?<\/p>\n

Notably, Safe Superintelligence describes themselves as the world\u2019s \u201cfirst straight-shot SSI lab,\u201d meaning the company has no other products or ambitions outside of developing, well, safe superintelligence. That\u2019s the name, that\u2019s the product, that\u2019s their whole thing. Sutskever started Safe Superintelligence shortly after leaving OpenAI, where he played a role in the brief ousting of CEO Sam Altman.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, it seems likely that Meta Superintelligence Labs will develop technology that powers lots of the company\u2019s products. In\u00a0Zuckerberg\u2019s memo<\/a>\u00a0announcing the new unit, he referenced Meta\u2019s expertise in building and growing products that reach billions of people, and cited the early wins Meta has had in AI wearables.<\/p>\n

That means Gross, who previously led AI teams at Apple after the iPhone maker acquired his startup, could have a more familiar role at Meta, should he join. Zuckerberg has also nabbed some\u00a0top researchers from OpenAI<\/a>\u00a0and Google DeepMind to fill out his new AI team.<\/p>\n

Nevertheless, Sutskever may have his hands full as Safe Superintelligence\u2019s CEO. While he\u2019s held previous high-ranking positions, such as OpenAI\u2019s chief scientist, the CEO role may come with new challenges \u2014 such as raising new capital from investors and recruiting top talent. Sutskever notes in his post that he\u2019ll continue to oversee Safe Superintelligence\u2019s technical team.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n