Ilya Sutskever has assumed leadership of Safe Superintelligence (SSI), an AI startup he founded last year, following the departure of CEO Daniel Gross to Meta Platforms amidst a growing competition for talent in the tech sector.
Gross is set to manage Meta’s AI products division, according to sources who spoke to Reuters.
This transition occurs as major tech companies, including Meta, are making aggressive moves to acquire top-tier talent and are dangling lucrative pay packages in a bid to dominate the evolving landscape of artificial intelligence.
Meta had previously attempted to recruit Sutskever and pursue the acquisition of SSI, which is currently valued at approximately $32 billion (around Rs. 2,73,402 crore), sources familiar with the negotiations confirmed to Reuters.
In a post on X, Sutskever addressed the speculation surrounding potential acquisitions, 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.” Last year, SSI secured $1 billion (approximately Rs. 8,543 crore) in funding aimed at developing advanced AI systems structured to surpass human intelligence safely.
Sutskever previously held the position of chief scientist at OpenAI, a company he co-founded. He departed from OpenAI following the high-profile firing and subsequent rehiring of CEO Sam Altman in November 2023.
Meanwhile, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg has introduced a new division called Meta Superintelligence Labs to consolidate the company’s AI initiatives. This restructuring comes in response to obstacles with its Llama 4 model and significant staff departures.
The new unit will be directed by former Scale AI CEO Alexandr Wang and former GitHub chief Nat Friedman. Meta has recently invested $14.3 billion (approximately Rs. 1,22,178 crore) in Scale, increasing its efforts to attract leading AI experts.
It is noted that Gross and Friedman share a close professional relationship, having co-founded the venture capital firm NFDG, which has invested in several high-profile startups including Safe Superintelligence, Perplexity, and Figma.
Furthermore, it has been reported that Meta has made an offer to acquire a minority stake in NFDG’s funds from limited partners through a tender offer, as per sources.
Meta has not yet responded to a request for comment from Reuters, and attempts to reach NFDG were unsuccessful.
In 2013, Apple acquired Gross’s startup Cue for its predictive search and AI capabilities, leading Gross to take on a director role at Apple where he oversaw machine learning and AI initiatives.
© Thomson Reuters 2025
