OpenAI Alumni Lead $42B in AI Startups Without Shipping a Product

Two of OpenAI’s most prominent former leaders, Ilya Sutskever and Mira Murati, are now at the helm of separate AI startups collectively valued at more than $42 billion—despite having no public products to show. The eye-popping valuations of their ventures, Safe Superintelligence Inc. (SSI) and Thinking Machines Lab, underscore a sweeping trend: investors are backing elite AI talent at unprecedented levels, betting on vision over deliverables.

Safe Superintelligence Inc.: $32B for a Singular Mission

Co-founded by former OpenAI chief scientist Ilya Sutskever, SSI has raised a total of $2 billion in funding, bringing its valuation to a reported $32 billion, per the Financial Times. The company is laser-focused on one objective: building a safe superintelligence.

Founded in mid-2024 with Daniel Gross and Daniel Levy, SSI has remained in near-total stealth. Its website offers only a mission statement, with no details about timelines or products. Still, the startup has secured investments from top firms like Andreessen Horowitz, Sequoia Capital, and DST Global, and struck a strategic deal with Google Cloud to power its AI research using Tensor Processing Units (TPUs).

“Developing safe, superintelligent AI systems is our mission, our name, and our entire product roadmap,” SSI states.

Sutskever’s influence, both at OpenAI and earlier at Google Brain, is central to investor confidence. His departure from OpenAI came after a controversial role in the attempted ouster of CEO Sam Altman, followed by his public support for Altman's reinstatement.

Thinking Machines Lab: Murati’s Team of AI Heavyweights

Meanwhile, ex-OpenAI CTO Mira Murati is leading Thinking Machines Lab, a startup that’s reportedly targeting a massive $2 billion seed round at a valuation of at least $10 billion, according to Business Insider. The company has not released any products but boasts a growing team of high-profile AI researchers, many of whom previously worked at OpenAI or Google DeepMind.

Newly listed advisors include Bob McGrew, OpenAI’s former chief research officer, and Alec Radford, the lead author of the original GPT paper and a key figure behind models like Whisper and DALL-E.

Murati's startup aims to develop AI systems that are “more widely understood, customizable, and generally capable” than existing models, according to a February announcement. Alongside Murati, the leadership includes OpenAI co-founder John Schulman as chief scientist and Barret Zoph as CTO.

Murati helped shape ChatGPT, DALL-E, and Codex during her tenure at OpenAI, and her reputation has made Thinking Machines Lab one of the most watched companies in the AI space—despite its lack of public-facing work so far.

A New Pattern in AI Investment

The simultaneous rise of SSI and Thinking Machines Lab reflects a growing investor trend: placing enormous bets on teams, not technology. The assumption is clear—if these leaders built the first wave of generative AI breakthroughs, they’re likely to do it again.

This pattern is being fueled by a “big tech put”—a concept where investors assume that if these startups fall short, tech giants like Google, Amazon, or Microsoft may still acquire them for their talent and research potential.

Key traits of this trend include:

• Talent-first funding: Elite researchers from OpenAI, DeepMind, and Google are commanding billions in pre-product funding.

• Stealth mode operations: Companies are revealing minimal information about roadmaps, instead focusing on long-term research goals.

• Cloud partnerships: Strategic infrastructure deals, like SSI’s with Google Cloud, suggest cloud providers are eager to align with emerging AI unicorns.

What This Means

As the generative AI race accelerates, access to elite talent is becoming just as valuable—if not more so—than actual technology. The backing of SSI and Thinking Machines Lab signals a new era in which reputations, not roadmaps, are raising billions. Whether this leads to transformative products or inflated expectations remains to be seen, but one thing is clear: the AI investment gold rush is far from over.

Editor’s Note: This article was created by Alicia Shapiro, CMO of AiNews.com, with writing, image, and idea-generation support from ChatGPT, an AI assistant. However, the final perspective and editorial choices are solely Alicia Shapiro’s. Special thanks to ChatGPT for assistance with research and editorial support in crafting this article.