Leopold Aschenbrenner was as soon as dubbed the “Nostradamus of AI” for a viral essay predicting a wave of transformative synthetic intelligence. However his hedge fund didn’t see its personal meltdown coming.
The 24-year-old former OpenAI researcher launched Situational Consciousness in 2024 with $100 million from outstanding tech buyers, the New York Occasions reported. Seems the corporate wasn’t as situationally conscious of AI funding volatility. It poured cash into AI-adjacent startups and knowledge heart corporations, at one level quadrupling investor cash and rising to roughly $30 billion.
Then AI shares dropped sharply. Goldman Sachs, one of many fund’s largest lenders, demanded compensation on its loans. Over the subsequent 30 hours, Situational Consciousness scrambled to promote roughly $20 billion in inventory. Rival hedge fund Citadel agreed to purchase a lot of it at a reduction, in an early morning name between Aschenbrenner and founder Kenneth Griffin.
The fund survived, however with roughly $8 billion left, down from $30 billion at the beginning of July, a drop of greater than 70 p.c.
Leopold Aschenbrenner was as soon as dubbed the “Nostradamus of AI” for a viral essay predicting a wave of transformative synthetic intelligence. However his hedge fund didn’t see its personal meltdown coming.
The 24-year-old former OpenAI researcher launched Situational Consciousness in 2024 with $100 million from outstanding tech buyers, the New York Occasions reported. Seems the corporate wasn’t as situationally conscious of AI funding volatility. It poured cash into AI-adjacent startups and knowledge heart corporations, at one level quadrupling investor cash and rising to roughly $30 billion.
Then AI shares dropped sharply. Goldman Sachs, one of many fund’s largest lenders, demanded compensation on its loans. Over the subsequent 30 hours, Situational Consciousness scrambled to promote roughly $20 billion in inventory. Rival hedge fund Citadel agreed to purchase a lot of it at a reduction, in an early morning name between Aschenbrenner and founder Kenneth Griffin.
The fund survived, however with roughly $8 billion left, down from $30 billion at the beginning of July, a drop of greater than 70 p.c.
