Hedge Fund Seeks Capital After AI-Related Bet Goes Sour

Situational Awareness, a hedge fund founded by Leopold Aschenbrenner in 2024 after his time at OpenAI, is seeking capital from investors and lenders following significant losses in the recent AI stock sell-off.

The fund had around $20 billion in assets under management as of June 8, according to the Wall Street Journal, but suffered substantial losses due to its bets on AI-related stocks, including Bitcoin miners pivoting into AI computing. The size of the losses and amount sought were not disclosed.

In a July 24 investor letter, Aschenbrenner argued that the sell-off had created attractive investment opportunities, citing his previous predictions about artificial general intelligence. The fund had previously made big bets on its portfolio around power and data centers supporting AI, including $1.11 billion in positions across seven Bitcoin miner stocks.