Ilya Sutskever, co-founder of OpenAI and Safe Superintelligence (SSI), has officially taken over as CEO of SSI following the departure of Daniel Gross, who stepped down on June 29. The announcement, made by Sutskever on X (formerly Twitter), also revealed that co-founder Daniel Levy will now serve as president of the startup.
The leadership shake-up comes amid reports that Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg was in advanced talks to hire Gross and his longtime collaborator, former GitHub CEO Nat Friedman. At one point, Zuckerberg even explored acquiring all of Safe Superintelligence, which has been valued at $32 billion. Sutskever responded to the speculation, stating, “You might have heard rumors of companies looking to acquire us. We are flattered by their attention but are focused on seeing our work through,” adding, “We have the compute, we have the team, and we know what to do. Together we will keep building safe superintelligence.”
Founded in 2024, Safe Superintelligence positions itself as the world’s “first straight-shot SSI lab,” meaning its sole mission is to develop safe superintelligence—without any other commercial products or side ventures. Sutskever launched the company shortly after his departure from OpenAI, where he was previously chief scientist and played a central role during the temporary removal of CEO Sam Altman in 2023.
Gross’s exit raises questions about the internal dynamics at SSI. If the company was nearing a major breakthrough in superintelligence, many wonder why one of its key founders would walk away. Industry insiders speculate that Gross may be leaning toward a leadership role at Meta, where he would likely contribute to the newly formed Meta Superintelligence Labs. Zuckerberg has stated that the unit will leverage Meta’s reach and experience to develop AI technologies that integrate into its massive ecosystem of products, including wearables.
As the new CEO, Sutskever faces a different set of responsibilities compared to his past scientific roles. He’ll be expected to raise capital, attract top talent, and steer the startup through a competitive and fast-moving AI landscape. Nonetheless, he emphasized in his post that he will continue leading the company’s technical direction.
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