Leopold Aschenbrenner promised to buy wife galaxy, then his $45B hedge fund blew up | Latest Tech News
AI savants are identified for their daring predictions.
Leopold Aschenbrenner, the so-called “Nostradamus of AI,” took issues to another degree, reportedly promising his future wife he would sometime buy her not a yacht or a mansion, but a galaxy.
The 24-year-old German-born wunderkind married the chief of employees to Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei earlier this month.
Leopold Aschenbrenner, 24, constructed Situational Awareness into what the Wall Street Journal described as a $45 billion hedge fund before its leveraged AI bets unraveled in July. Leopold Aschenbrenner/Stanford University
Just days earlier, his massively leveraged hedge fund imploded — plunging 67% through July 30 and forcing him to unload most of its public-stock portfolio to Ken Griffin’s Citadel.
Aschenbrenner signed the paperwork for the emergency sale early Thursday morning before heading to Carmel, Calif., for his wedding ceremony that weekend, according to the Wall Street Journal.
One speaker reportedly thanked Griffin “for making it all possible,” while another visitor gushed about Aschenbrenner’s promise to sometime buy his new wife a galaxy.
Buying a chunk of universe had been on Aschenbrenner’s thoughts for years, according to the article, with the investor repeatedly mentioning the thought to incredulous pals.
Aschenbrenner did a stint for Sam Bankman-Fried’s FTX Future Fund and stayed with his now-wife, Avital Balwit, at the 600-acre Bahamas resort where FTX executives lived.
Aschenbrenner and Bankman-Fried have been members of 17 Signal group chats together — including “EA [effective altruism] Discussion” and “Anthropic Chat” — while the Future Fund workforce met with SBF and members of his internal circle in a sixth-floor penthouse, according to paperwork from Bankman-Fried’s prison trial cited by the Journal.
Avital Balwit, chief of employees to Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei, married Aschenbrenner in Carmel earlier this month — days after his hedge fund’s gorgeous reversal. Instagram/@avital.balwit
Aschenbrenner resigned from the Future Fund with his colleagues when FTX collapsed into chapter in November 2022.
He has said he and Bankman-Fried had already fallen out over disagreements involving biosecurity grants.
Less than two years later, Aschenbrenner launched Situational Awareness, ultimately building it into a $45 billion hedge fund before its closely leveraged bets on AI spectacularly unraveled over the summer season.
The breathtaking rise got here despite Aschenbrenner having just about no earlier investing expertise.
Aschenbrenner has told pals that advances in AI may ultimately enable people to colonize space — and promised his future wife he would sometime buy her a galaxy. Linkedin/Leopold Aschenbrenner
The Berlin-raised whiz child entered Columbia University at just 15 and graduated as valedictorian at 19, turning into deeply concerned along the best way in the efficient altruism motion and its issues about the possibly catastrophic dangers posed by superior AI.
After the FTX debacle, Aschenbrenner landed at OpenAI in 2023, ruffling feathers by warning about potential Chinese spies inside the company and later despatched its board a memo blasting its security protocols.
He subsequently claimed he was told it was racist to raise issues about espionage by the Chinese Communist Party, according to the Journal.
More than a dozen Anthropic staff have been on the visitor listing for Aschenbrenner and Balwit’s wedding ceremony, according to the Journal. X/@AvitalBalwit
OpenAI denies this.
Aschenbrenner’s tenure ended messily.
He was fired after sharing data that OpenAI executives thought-about delicate with Holden Karnofsky, an influential determine in the efficient altruism motion who is married to Anthropic President Daniela Amodei, according to the Journal.
Aschenbrenner has maintained that the data wasn’t confidential and claimed OpenAI had other causes for firing him. OpenAI disputed his account.
Citadel founder Ken Griffin emerged as a key participant in Aschenbrenner’s hedge fund disaster, with his firm shopping for most of Situational Awareness’s public portfolio at a low cost. REUTERS
“Leopold was not fired for raising security concerns, internally or with our board,” an OpenAI spokeswoman told the Journal.
Aschenbrenner said he walked away from practically $1 million in OpenAI equity slightly than signal a nondisclosure settlement required to obtain it.
He soon made a a lot larger wager on AI.
In 2024, Aschenbrenner revealed a sprawling 165-page manifesto, titled “Situational Awareness,” predicting the arrival of superintelligent AI and arguing that the technology would usher in one of the “most intense and volatile moments of human history.”
He then turned that thesis into an investment strategy.
Despite being barely previous enough to drink and having no earlier skilled investing expertise, Aschenbrenner attracted money from heavyweight backers including trading giant Jane Street and Stripe co-founders Patrick and John Collison, according to the Journal.
Situational Awareness piled into corporations across the AI provide chain, including semiconductor, power and software program shares, while also shopping for stakes in non-public corporations.
Aschenbrenner labored for the FTX Future Fund, a philanthropy backed primarily by disgraced crypto mogul Sam Bankman-Fried. via REUTERS
Situational Awareness borrowed about $3 for every $1 of capital it held, according to the Journal, leaving the fund dangerously uncovered when a July tech selloff hammered its concentrated AI bets.
As the shares sank, rival merchants started noticing hassle in positions related with the fund and Aschenbrenner discovered himself desperately searching for money to fulfill his lenders’ margin calls.
At one level, he thought-about promoting a $3.5 billion stake in Anthropic.
Instead, he struck the emergency deal to promote most of his publicly traded portfolio to Citadel at a low cost.
The transaction proved profitable for Griffin’s hedge fund giant. The AI shares Citadel acquired subsequently rallied, serving to ship its flagship fund its best month in years, according to the Journal.
Aschenbrenner thought-about promoting a $3.5 billion Anthropic stake before unloading most of his public-stock portfolio to Citadel. YouTube/Dwarkesh Patel
Situational Awareness, meanwhile, took a drastic fall through July 30.
The aftermath hit some of the delicate traders who had backed the younger fund supervisor. Jane Street misplaced about $15 billion in July — its worst month-to-month loss ever, the Journal reported.
Federal regulators are now scrutinizing Situational Awareness’s trading exercise, though no formal allegations of wrongdoing have been made.
“We are a highly-regulated business and will cooperate to the fullest extent with any regulatory request,” Situational Awareness has said.
The Post has sought remark from Aschenbrenner.
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