“We we know what to do”: Ilya Sutskever takes helm as CEO, rules out sale of Safe Superintelligence

Ilya Sutskever, co-founder of Safe Superintelligence (SSI), has confirmed that Daniel Gross, one of the startup’s co-founders and its CEO, officially left the company on June 29. In a message shared with SSI’s team and investors, and later posted publicly, Sutskever thanked Gross for his early role and wished him well in his next steps.

The note also addressed speculation that SSI, which has become one of the most closely watched startups in artificial intelligence, might be acquired. “You might have heard rumors of companies looking to acquire us,” Sutskever wrote. “We are flattered by their attention but are focused on seeing our work through.”

Sutskever said he will now formally serve as CEO, with Daniel Levy as President. The technical team continues to report directly to him.

Founded just last year, SSI has attracted significant backing, including funding from Google, Nvidia, and leading venture firms, to pursue what it describes as safe superintelligent AI. The company raised over $3 billion in less than a year, reaching a valuation of $32 billion, but has kept a low profile, with no public product or demos.

Gross’s departure comes amid reports that Meta unsuccessfully tried to buy SSI earlier this year, and then hired Gross and his investment partner Nat Friedman directly instead. Sutskever’s message suggests SSI intends to remain independent despite outside interest.

“We have the compute, we have the team, and we know what to do,” Sutskever wrote. “Together we will keep building safe superintelligence.”

Shortly after, Gross posted on his account: “Ilya and Daniel have assembled an incredible team and I'm honored to have been able to assist in getting SSI off the ground. The company's future is very bright, and I expect miracles to follow.”

Apple acquired Gross's startup, Cue, in 2013 for its predictive search and AI technology, after which Gross joined the iPhone maker as a director, overseeing machine learning and artificial intelligence.

Mark Zuckerberg seems to be sparing no expense in his attempts to establish an AI powerhouse at Meta, with an internal memo detailing earlier this week a sweeping realignment that puts Alexandr Wang, the youthful founder of data-labeling firm Scale AI, at the helm as the company’s new chief AI officer. Nat Friedman, the former GitHub CEO and Gross' investment partner, will “partner with Alex” to lead Meta’s push on advanced AI products and applied research. The two are just the latest high-profile additions to Zuckerberg’s intensifying AI push. Earlier this month, Meta sealed a $14.3 billion deal for nearly half of Scale AI, effectively buying Wang’s commitment in the process.

For Zuckerberg, whose company faces stiff competition from OpenAI and Google’s DeepMind, this is a defining moment. “As the pace of AI progress accelerates, developing superintelligence is coming into sight,” he told employees. “I believe this will be the beginning of a new era for humanity, and I am fully committed to doing what it takes for Meta to lead the way.”

The latest wave of hires at Meta also includes engineers and scientists from OpenAI, Google DeepMind, and Anthropic. Among the new recruits: DeepMind’s Jack Rae and Pei Sun, and OpenAI’s Jiahui Yu, Shuchao Bi, Shengjia Zhao and Hongyu Ren.