Ilya Sutskever, OpenAI's former chief scientist, launches new AI company | TechCrunch

🌈 Abstract

The article discusses the launch of a new company, Safe Superintelligence Inc. (SSI), by Ilya Sutskever, one of the co-founders of OpenAI. Sutskever, who was OpenAI's longtime chief scientist, founded SSI with former Y Combinator partner Daniel Gross and ex-OpenAI engineer Daniel Levy. The article highlights Sutskever's commitment to AI safety research, which was a key focus of his work at OpenAI, and the new company's mission to advance AI capabilities while ensuring safety remains ahead.

🙋 Q&A

[01] Ilya Sutskever and the Launch of Safe Superintelligence Inc. (SSI)

1. What is the background of Ilya Sutskever and his involvement with OpenAI?

• Ilya Sutskever was a co-founder and the longtime chief scientist at OpenAI.
• At OpenAI, he was integral to the company's efforts to improve AI safety with the rise of "superintelligent" AI systems.
• He worked on this area alongside Jan Leike, who co-led OpenAI's Superalignment team.

2. Why did Sutskever and Leike leave OpenAI?

• Sutskever and Leike left OpenAI in May after a dramatic falling out with the company's leadership over how to approach AI safety.

3. What is the focus and mission of Sutskever's new company, SSI?

• SSI is focused on advancing AI capabilities while ensuring that safety remains ahead.
• The company's mission is to "approach safety and capabilities in tandem, as technical problems to be solved through revolutionary engineering and scientific breakthroughs."
• SSI's goal is to "scale in peace" by making sure their safety remains ahead of their capabilities.

4. How is SSI structured compared to OpenAI?

• Unlike OpenAI, which originally launched as a non-profit and then restructured, SSI is being designed from the ground up as a for-profit entity.
• The article suggests that SSI may be able to raise significant capital due to the interest in AI and the team's credentials.

5. Where is SSI currently located and what is the company's recruitment focus?

• SSI has offices in Palo Alto and Tel Aviv, where it is currently recruiting technical talent.