Safe Superintelligence (SSI), an AI safety startup, has raised $1 billion in funding, pushing the fledgling company’s valuation to $5 billion. The funds will be channeled into acquiring computing power and recruiting elite talent, as SSI builds teams across its hubs in Palo Alto, California, and Tel Aviv, Israel.

Investors participating in this funding round include Andreessen Horowitz, Sequoia, DST Global, SV Angel, and NFDG, showing strong backing for SSI’s singular mission: to develop safe superintelligent AI.

SSI was co-founded by Daniel Levy, Ilya Sutskever, and angel investor Daniel Gross. The company’s entire focus is on safe superintelligence—a mission they’ve made clear is not just their name but their whole purpose. Unlike most AI companies that diversify their portfolios, SSI’s product roadmap revolves around achieving just one goal.

In a company statement, SSI remarked: “Safe Superintelligence is our identity and our mission. Every decision we make, from team composition to business strategy, aligns with this singular focus.”

By operating from both Palo Alto and Tel Aviv, SSI has access to two rich tech ecosystems that allow it to recruit top talent, particularly AI engineers and researchers. The company is determined to build a small but highly skilled team dedicated to one of the biggest challenges in AI development—creating superintelligent systems that are safe and ethical.

One of SSI’s key players, Ilya Sutskever, co-founded OpenAI and served as its chief scientist. He is known for championing the idea of scaling, which argues that AI performance improves with massive computational power. This philosophy helped lay the groundwork for today’s generative AI technologies like ChatGPT. After leaving OpenAI during a series of leadership shifts, Sutskever joined SSI with the goal of continuing his work in AI—this time with a focus on safety.

As AI continues to evolve rapidly, safety concerns have become increasingly urgent. The rise of deep fakes, model hallucinations, and other ethical risks has driven more investment into AI safety. Data from Pitchbook shows that companies are racing to find solutions to manage the risks posed by advanced AI systems.

With top-tier investors, a focused mission, and a talented team, Safe Superintelligence is positioning itself as a frontrunner in the development of responsible, safe AI. The company is on a mission to ensure that as AI systems grow more powerful, they remain aligned with human safety and ethical standards.