What Is Safe Superintelligence? SSI Lab and Mission

Safe Superintelligence Inc. (SSI) is an AI lab founded in June 2024 by OpenAI co-founder Ilya Sutskever, Daniel Gross, and Daniel Levy. As of October 2026, it has not released a public product.

SSI describes itself as an American company with offices in Palo Alto and Tel Aviv, and it has raised billions of dollars across several private rounds.

What Safe Superintelligence Inc. Is

Safe Superintelligence Inc. is an artificial intelligence research laboratory founded to develop a safe superintelligence as its sole objective. SSI was established on June 19, 2024, through an announcement signed jointly by Ilya Sutskever, Daniel Gross, and Daniel Levy. TechCrunch describes Sutskever as an OpenAI co-founder.

• Founded: June 19, 2024
• Founders: Ilya Sutskever, Daniel Gross, and Daniel Levy
• Chief Executive Officer: Ilya Sutskever
• President: Daniel Levy
• Offices: Palo Alto, California, and Tel Aviv, Israel
• Product status: No public model or software release as of October 2026

The Straight-Shot Safe Superintelligence Mission

SSI states its mission on its website. It calls itself "the world's first straight-shot SSI lab, with one goal and one product: a safe superintelligence."

It adds: "SSI is our mission, our name, and our entire product roadmap, because it is our sole focus." On speed and safety, SSI says: "We plan to advance capabilities as fast as possible while making sure our safety always remains ahead."

SSI Timeline and the 2025 Leadership Change

Safe Superintelligence Inc. reorganized its senior leadership in mid-2025 following the departure of co-founder Daniel Gross. A corporate update dated July 3, 2025, on SSI updates stated that Gross was officially no longer a part of SSI as of June 29, 2025. Sutskever wrote: "I am now formally CEO of SSI, and Daniel Levy is President."

The same note said: "You might have heard rumors of companies looking to acquire us." SiliconANGLE reported that Gross then joined Meta Superintelligence Labs, after Meta's reported attempt to acquire SSI, which Sutskever turned down.

• June 19, 2024: SSI founded by Ilya Sutskever, Daniel Gross, and Daniel Levy.
• September 4, 2024: SSI announces a $1 billion raise.
• April 9, 2025: TechCrunch reports SSI uses Google Cloud TPUs.
• April 2025: The Financial Times reports a $2 billion round at a $32 billion valuation.
• June 29, 2025: Daniel Gross leaves SSI.
• July 3, 2025: An SSI update names Sutskever as CEO and Daniel Levy as president.
• July 27, 2026: NVIDIA and SSI announce a long-term strategic partnership.

Separate Funding Rounds and Valuation Reports

Safe Superintelligence Inc. has secured billions of dollars across private financing transactions without publicly confirming a cumulative funding total. SSI announced one of these rounds itself; the others come from press reports and a partner announcement.

On September 4, 2024, SSI announced on SSI updates that it raised $1 billion from five investors: NFDG, Andreessen Horowitz (a16z), Sequoia, DST Global, and SV Angel. Maginative reported that this initial financing valued SSI at $5 billion based on unnamed sources, while noting SSI had about 10 employees at the time.

In April 2025, the Financial Times reported that SSI raised a further $2 billion at a $32 billion valuation, in a round led by Greenoaks. TechCrunch relayed the report, and SSI did not comment. Later, on July 27, 2026, NVIDIA announced an investment of undisclosed size as part of a long-term strategic partnership with SSI.

• September 4, 2024: $1 billion raised from NFDG, a16z, Sequoia Capital, DST Global, and SV Angel, with an unconfirmed $5 billion valuation reported by Maginative.
• April 2025: Reported $2 billion round at a $32 billion valuation led by Greenoaks, relayed by TechCrunch without formal confirmation from Safe Superintelligence Inc.
• July 27, 2026: Long-term strategic partnership and investment of undisclosed size announced by NVIDIA.

Compute Infrastructure and Hardware Partnerships

SSI's reported compute comes from two suppliers: Google Cloud and NVIDIA.

TechCrunch reported on April 9, 2025, that SSI uses Google Cloud's tensor processing units (TPUs) for its research.

On July 27, 2026, NVIDIA and SSI announced a long-term strategic partnership that gives SSI access to the NVIDIA Vera Rubin platform. SSI's updates page says the deal raises its compute about tenfold.

Where SSI Fits Among Labs Chasing Superintelligence

Ilya Sutskever co-founded OpenAI and co-signed OpenAI's May 2023 governance post, which described superintelligence as "future AI systems dramatically more capable than even AGI." The same post said "it's conceivable that within the next ten years, AI systems will exceed expert skill level in most domains." That OpenAI post was about governing superintelligence. SSI names building a safe superintelligence as its sole focus.

Meta Superintelligence Labs, which Daniel Gross joined after leaving SSI, carries the same word in its name but is Meta's AI division. SSI is a separate, privately held company.

Across SSI, OpenAI, and Meta, superintelligence is a goal that no lab has built. IBM describes artificial superintelligence as "a hypothetical software-based artificial intelligence (AI) system" and calls it "still a hypothetical future state." Google DeepMind's Levels of AGI paper puts artificial superintelligence (ASI) at the top of its scale and lists it as not yet achieved.

The Future of Life Institute published the Statement on Superintelligence on October 20, 2025. It calls for "a prohibition on the development of superintelligence, not lifted before there is broad scientific consensus that it will be done safely and controllably, and strong public buy-in." The statement had more than 77,000 signatures as of October 2026.

What Superintelligence Means

In the general sense, a superintelligence is an intellect that greatly exceeds human cognitive performance in virtually all domains. That definition comes from philosopher Nick Bostrom and is summarized on Wikipedia. The what is superintelligence guide covers the term in more depth.

The AGI vs ASI comparison explains how superintelligence differs from artificial general intelligence (AGI).

SSI's "SI" is unrelated to the federal "Super Intelligence" (SI) label created by Executive Order 14434, which the Super Intelligence executive order explainer covers.

Product Status and Investing in SSI

SSI is a private company with no public shares and no software for sale. As of October 9, 2026, SSI's updates page lists no product launch or model release, and its most recent entry is the NVIDIA partnership.

Because Safe Superintelligence Inc. remains privately held, retail market participants cannot buy shares on public stock exchanges. SSI has not published its current headcount, revenue, model names, technical approach, or release timing.

For a team picking AI tools in October 2026, SSI has nothing to buy, license, or integrate. Any project that needs a model now has to use one already on the market.