In a bold move signaling confidence in the future of artificial intelligence, Alphabet and Nvidia have poured significant funding into Safe Superintelligence (SSI), a promising AI startup co-founded by Ilya Sutskever, the former chief scientist at OpenAI.
The investment, led by venture capital firm Greenoaks and joined by heavyweights like Sequoia Capital and Andreessen Horowitz, values SSI at a staggering $32 billion—remarkable for a company launched just last June.
SSI, based in Palo Alto with a second office in Tel Aviv, is on a mission to build “safe superintelligence”—AI systems that outstrip human capabilities while staying true to human values.
Unlike many competitors, SSI is leaning heavily on Alphabet’s tensor processing units (TPUs) to power its research, a departure from the Nvidia GPUs that dominate the AI chip market.
This choice underscores a deepening partnership with Alphabet, which also supplies SSI with cloud computing resources to scale its ambitious projects.
Sutskever, widely respected for his role in breakthroughs like ChatGPT during his OpenAI days, is steering SSI toward a fresh approach to AI development.
While details are sparse, he’s joined by co-founders Daniel Gross, a former AI lead at Apple, and Daniel Levy, another OpenAI alum.
Together, they’re building a tight-knit team, prioritizing raw talent and integrity over traditional resumes. “We’re looking for people who are exceptional in both character and ability,” Gross shared in a recent statement, hinting at SSI’s rigorous hiring process.
The funding comes at a time when AI startups are drawing massive interest, even as the industry faces growing pains. Just last month, Chinese AI firm DeepSeek rattled markets with low-cost models, putting pressure on Western players.
Yet SSI’s trajectory suggests it’s unfazed—its valuation has skyrocketed from $5 billion in September 2024, when it raised $1 billion, to $20 billion in early 2025 talks, and now to its current $32 billion mark.
For Alphabet and Nvidia, backing SSI is more than a bet on innovation—it’s a strategic play to fuel demand for their infrastructure.
Alphabet’s TPUs and cloud services get a boost, while Nvidia, despite SSI’s TPU preference, secures a stake in a rising star that will still rely on vast computing power.
This mirrors broader trends, like Amazon and Google’s support for Anthropic or Microsoft’s partnership with OpenAI, as tech giants race to shape AI’s future.
As SSI ramps up its computing capacity and talent pool, it’s poised to make waves in the AI world. With Sutskever’s vision and heavyweight backers, the startup could redefine what safe, powerful AI looks like. For now, the industry—and the world—is watching closely.
