Ilya Sutskever founded her own AI startup with a focus on security and development without any commercial pressure.

OpenAI co-founder and former chief scientist Ilya Sutskever is starting her own AI company with a focus on safety. “Safe Superintelligence (SSI) was specifically designed with one goal and one product in mind: creating a safe and high-performing AI system,” Sutskever said. By putting aside the commercial pressures that many AI companies face, the company says it can expand in peace.

Focus on security

According to an announcement by Sutskever at X, SSI is a startup that “addresses safety and capabilities simultaneously.” This allows SSI to rapidly improve its AI system while prioritizing safety. “Our business model means that safety and progress are protected from short-term commercial constraints,” Sutskever said.

Sutskever founded SSI with Daniel Gross, former AI lead at Apple, and Daniel Levy, who worked as an engineer at OpenAI. Last year, Sam Altman was (temporarily) ousted as CEO of OpenAI, under the joint leadership of Sutskever, who himself left the company in May.

It is unlikely that SSI will enter into major partnerships such as Microsoft and Apple. “SSI’s singular focus allows it to avoid distractions caused by management overhead or product cycles,” the announcement states.