Ilya Sutskever, OpenAI's former chief scientist, launches new AI company

Ilya Sutskever, Russian Israeli-Canadian computer scientist and co-founder and Chief Scientist of OpenAI.

Image Credits: Getty Images

Ilya Sutskever, one of OpenAI’s co-founders, has launched a new company, Safe Superintelligence Inc. (SSI), just one month after formally leaving OpenAI.

Sutskever, who was OpenAI’s longtime chief scientist, founded SSI with former Y Combinator partner Daniel Gross and ex-OpenAI engineer Daniel Levy.

At OpenAI, Sutskever was integral to the company’s efforts to improve AI safety with the rise of “superintelligent” AI systems, an area he worked on alongside Jan Leike, who co-led OpenAI’s Superalignment team. Yet both Sutskever and then Leike left the company in May after a dramatic falling out with leadership at OpenAI over how to approach AI safety. Leike now heads a team at rival AI shop Anthropic.

Sutskever has been shining a light on the thornier aspects of AI safety for a long time now. In a blog post published in 2023, Sutskever, writing with Leike, predicted that AI with intelligence superior to humans could arrive within the decade — and that when it does, it won’t necessarily be benevolent, necessitating research into ways to control and restrict it.

He’s clearly as committed as ever to the cause today. Wednesday afternoon, a tweet announcing the formation of Sutskever’s new company states that: “SSI is our mission, our name, and our entire product roadmap, because it is our sole focus. Our team, investors, and business model are all aligned to achieve SSI. We approach safety and capabilities in tandem, as technical problems to be solved through revolutionary engineering and scientific breakthroughs.”

“We plan to advance capabilities as fast as possible while making sure our safety always remains ahead. This way, we can scale in peace. Our singular focus means no distraction by management overhead or product cycles, and our business model means safety, security, and progress are all insulated from short-term commercial pressures.”

Sutskever spoke with Bloomberg about the new company in greater detail, though he declined to discuss its funding situation or valuation.

More apparent is that unlike OpenAI — which originally launched as a nonprofit organization in 2015, then restructured itself when the vast sums of money needed for its computing power became more obvious — SSI is being designed from the ground up as a for-profit entity. Judging by interest in AI and the team’s credentials specifically, it may be drowning in capital very soon, too. “Out of all the problems we face,” Gross tells Bloomberg, “raising capital is not going to be one of them.”

SSI has offices in Palo Alto and Tel Aviv, where it is currently recruiting technical talent.

OpenAI is forming a new team to bring ‘superintelligent’ AI under control

Amazon's India chief resigns amid intensifying competition

Employees work at a reception counter in the Amazon.com Inc. office campus in Hyderabad, India.

Image Credits: Dhiraj Singh / Bloomberg / Getty Images

Manish Tiwary, the head of Amazon’s India operations, is leaving the firm “to pursue an opportunity outside of the company” as the U.S. e-commerce giant grapples with mounting pressure from competitors in one of its crucial international markets, TechCrunch has confirmed.

Tiwary, who took over as country manager in late 2020, is departing as Amazon has noticeably shifted its focus onto its cloud business in India and shuttered several other initiatives, including its food delivery venture. Amazon confirmed Tiwary’s departure in a statement that didn’t name a successor. Amit Agarwal, who previously led Amazon India and currently oversees the emerging economies initiative for the firm, will “remain closely involved with the Amazon team,” a company spokesperson said.

Amazon, which has poured more than $7 billion into India, is facing hurdles in penetrating the South Asian nation’s smaller cities and towns, where domestic rivals Flipkart, owned by Walmart, and SoftBank-backed Meesho have established stronger footholds. Industry analysts say Amazon’s struggles in these areas stem from its limited product selection for price-sensitive customers and less developed logistics networks.

Meesho has surpassed Amazon in mobile app monthly active user share among e-commerce apps in India, Morgan Stanley analysts wrote in a note Tuesday. Flipkart has more than 50 million daily active users on its mobile apps in India, whereas Amazon has fewer than 40 million, according to Bank of America analysts.

In urban India, the U.S. giant is grappling with intensifying competition from quick commerce firms BlinkIt, Swiggy and Zepto, which are wooing customers with fast deliveries in as little as 10 minutes. Flipkart on Monday rolled out its own quick offering in Bengaluru. Amazon recently held talks to acquire a stake in Swiggy, according to people familiar with the matter.

“India is an important priority for Amazon,” Amazon added. “We are excited by the momentum and business results we have already achieved, and we are even more optimistic about the significant opportunities ahead to innovate on behalf of our customers and digitally transform lives and livelihoods.”

Exclusive: Canoo's chief technology officer is out amid wider reorg

Canoo Light Tactical Vehicle for use by US Army

Image Credits: Canoo

EV startup Canoo’s chief technology officer Sohel Merchant has left the company, two people familiar with his departure have told TechCrunch.

Merchant was one of the members of Canoo’s founding team, who created the startup in late 2017. His departure from the company means that only one of those founding team members remains — chief engineer Christoph Kuttner.

Canoo did not respond to a request for comment. Merchant declined to comment.

The split comes at a time when Canoo is going through a sizable reorganization. The startup is closing down its Los Angeles headquarters and asking most of the nearly 200 employees who work there to relocate to either Texas (where Canoo has a corporate office) or Oklahoma (where it’s trying to stand up a manufacturing facility).

The company has been in a constant state of remaking itself since it went public in late 2020 as part of a merger with a special purpose acquisition company, or SPAC. Shortly after that happened, chairman Tony Aquila took over as CEO, and pivoted Canoo away from the plan of selling its electric van to everyday people. Instead, he started targeting the commercial EV space.

Aquila’s plans for Canoo have shifted in the years since he started running the company. He announced in late 2021 that he was moving the company’s headquarters from Los Angeles to Bentonville, Arkansas, the hometown of Walmart — which Canoo was courting as a blue-chip customer.

Walmart did eventually sign a deal with Canoo in 2022, but it was an extremely low-risk arrangement for the retailer, and the EV maker has yet to ship any meaningful volume of vehicles as part of the deal. The move to Bentonville never really happened, either. Meanwhile, Canoo turned its sights toward Oklahoma, where Aquila announced plans for a massive manufacturing facility that has yet to be built. The company is currently testing vehicles for the United States Postal Service, NASA and the Department of Defense, but is light on cash. Last week it reported having just $19.1 million as of June 30.

Canoo has steadily lost nearly all of its founding team over that time. Co-founder and former CEO Stefan Krause left the company in 2020. His replacement, fellow co-founder Ulrich Kranz, resigned in 2021 and spent a few years working on Apple’s secretive EV project. Another core co-founder, chief designer Richard Kim, left in 2023.

Amazon's India chief resigns amid intensifying competition

Image Credits: Dhiraj Singh / Bloomberg / Getty Images

Manish Tiwary, the head of Amazon’s India operations, is leaving the firm as the U.S. e-commerce giant grapples with mounting pressure from competitors in one of its crucial international markets.

Tiwary, who took over as country manager in late 2020, is departing as Amazon has noticeably shifted its focus on cloud business in India and shuttered several other initiatives, including its food delivery venture.

Amazon, which has poured over $7 billion in India, has faced hurdles in penetrating the South Asian nation’s smaller cities and towns, where domestic rivals Flipkart, owned by Walmart, and SoftBank-backed Meesho have established stronger footholds. Industry analysts say Amazon’s struggles in these areas stem from its limited product selection for price-sensitive customers and less developed logistics networks.

Meesho has surpassed Amazon in mobile app monthly active user share among e-commerce apps in India, Morgan Stanley analysts wrote in a note Tuesday. Flipkart has more than 50 million daily active users on its mobile apps in India, whereas Amazon has fewer than 40 million, according to Bank of America analysts.

In urban India, the U.S. giant is grappling with intensifying competition from quick commerce firms BlinkIt, Zepto and Swiggy that are wooing customers with fast deliveries in as little as 10 minutes. Flipkart on Monday rolled out its own quick offering in Bengaluru. Amazon recently held talks to acquire a stake in Swiggy, according to people familiar with the matter.

“Manish Tiwary, Country Manager for Amazon India, has decided to pursue an opportunity outside of the company. Manish’s leadership over the last eight years has been instrumental in delivering for customers and sellers, making Amazon.in the preferred marketplace in India. Manish will continue with Amazon until October to help ensure a smooth transition,” an Amazon spokesperson told TechCrunch in a statement.

“India is an important priority for Amazon. We are excited by the momentum and business results we have already achieved, and we are even more optimistic about the significant opportunities ahead to innovate on behalf of our customers and digitally transform lives and livelihoods. Amit Agarwal, SVP India and Emerging Markets, will remain closely involved with the Amazon.in team, guiding its strong bench of leaders to deliver on this opportunity.”

This is a developing story. More to follow.

Ilya Sutskever, OpenAI's former chief scientist, launches new AI company

Ilya Sutskever, Russian Israeli-Canadian computer scientist and co-founder and Chief Scientist of OpenAI.

Image Credits: Getty Images

Ilya Sutskever, one of OpenAI’s co-founders, has launched a new company, Safe Superintelligence Inc. (SSI), just one month after formally leaving OpenAI.

Sutskever, who was OpenAI’s longtime chief scientist, founded SSI with former Y Combinator partner Daniel Gross and ex-OpenAI engineer Daniel Levy.

At OpenAI, Sutskever was integral to the company’s efforts to improve AI safety with the rise of “superintelligent” AI systems, an area he worked on alongside Jan Leike, who co-led OpenAI’s Superalignment team. Yet both Sutskever and then Leike left the company in May after a dramatic falling out with leadership at OpenAI over how to approach AI safety. Leike now heads a team at rival AI shop Anthropic.

Sutskever has been shining a light on the thornier aspects of AI safety for a long time now. In a blog post published in 2023, Sutskever, writing with Leike, predicted that AI with intelligence superior to humans could arrive within the decade — and that when it does, it won’t necessarily be benevolent, necessitating research into ways to control and restrict it.

He’s clearly as committed as ever to the cause today. Wednesday afternoon, a tweet announcing the formation of Sutskever’s new company states that: “SSI is our mission, our name, and our entire product roadmap, because it is our sole focus. Our team, investors, and business model are all aligned to achieve SSI. We approach safety and capabilities in tandem, as technical problems to be solved through revolutionary engineering and scientific breakthroughs.”

“We plan to advance capabilities as fast as possible while making sure our safety always remains ahead. This way, we can scale in peace. Our singular focus means no distraction by management overhead or product cycles, and our business model means safety, security, and progress are all insulated from short-term commercial pressures.”

Sutskever spoke with Bloomberg about the new company in greater detail, though he declined to discuss its funding situation or valuation.

More apparent is that unlike OpenAI — which originally launched as a nonprofit organization in 2015, then restructured itself when the vast sums of money needed for its computing power became more obvious — SSI is being designed from the ground up as a for-profit entity. Judging by interest in AI and the team’s credentials specifically, it may be drowning in capital very soon, too. “Out of all the problems we face,” Gross tells Bloomberg, “raising capital is not going to be one of them.”

SSI has offices in Palo Alto and Tel Aviv, where it is currently recruiting technical talent.

OpenAI is forming a new team to bring ‘superintelligent’ AI under control

Ilya Sutskever, OpenAI's former chief scientist, launches new AI company

Image Credits: Getty Images

Ilya Sutskever, one of OpenAI’s co-founders, has launched a new company, Safe Superintelligence Inc. (SSI), just one month after formally leaving OpenAI.

Sutskever, who was OpenAI’s longtime chief scientist, founded SSI with former Y Combinator partner Daniel Gross and ex-OpenAI engineer Daniel Levy.

At OpenAI, Sutskever was integral to the company’s efforts to improve AI safety with the rise of “superintelligent” AI systems, an area he worked on alongside Jan Leike, who co-led OpenAI’s Superalignment team. Yet both Sutskever and then Leike left the company in May after a dramatic falling out with leadership at OpenAI over how to approach AI safety. Leike now heads a team at rival AI shop Anthropic.

Sutskever has been shining a light on the thornier aspects of AI safety for a long time now. In a blog post published in 2023, Sutskever, writing with Leike, predicted that AI with intelligence superior to humans could arrive within the decade—and that when it does, it won’t necessarily be benevolent, necessitating research into ways to control and restrict it.

He’s clearly as committed as ever to the cause today. Wednesday afternoon, a tweet announcing the formation of Sutskever’s new company states that: “SSI is our mission, our name, and our entire product roadmap, because it is our sole focus. Our team, investors, and business model are all aligned to achieve SSI. We approach safety and capabilities in tandem, as technical problems to be solved through revolutionary engineering and scientific breakthroughs.”

“We plan to advance capabilities as fast as possible while making sure our safety always remains ahead. This way, we can scale in peace. Our singular focus means no distraction by management overhead or product cycles, and our business model means safety, security, and progress are all insulated from short-term commercial pressures.”

Sutskever spoke with Bloomberg about the new company in greater detail, though he declined to discuss its funding situation or valuation.

More apparent is that unlike OpenAI — which originally launched as a non-profit organization in 2015, then restructured itself when the vast sums of money needed for its computing power became more obvious — SSI is being designed from the ground up as a for-profit entity. Judging by interest in AI and the team’s credentials specifically, it may be drowning in capital very soon, too. “Out of all the problems we face,” Gross tells Bloomberg, “raising capital is not going to be one of them.”

SSI has offices in Palo Alto and Tel Aviv, where it is currently recruiting technical talent.

OpenAI is forming a new team to bring ‘superintelligent’ AI under control

Cruise names first chief safety officer following crash and controversy

cruise-robotaxi-houston

Image Credits: Cruise

Cruise has named its first “chief safety officer” as part of the company’s effort to rehabilitate itself following an incident — and ensuing controversy — last year that left a pedestrian stuck under and then dragged by one of its robotaxis.

Steve Kenner, an autonomous vehicle industry veteran who has held top safety roles at Kodiak, Locomation, Aurora and Uber’s now-defunct self-driving division, is filling the newly created role. Kenner will report directly to Cruise president and chief administrative officer Craig Glidden. He will “oversee Cruise’s safety management systems and operations” and work “in direct partnership with the Cruise Board of Directors,” the company said in a statement Monday.

Louise Zhang, a VP of safety and systems at Cruise and one of the highest ranking safety-related employees prior to Kenner’s arrival, will remain in her position.

Kenner’s appointment comes just three weeks after the release of a 195-page report by law firm Quinn Emanuel examining the October crash, where a Cruise robotaxi struck and dragged a pedestrian who was previously hit by a human-driven car, as well as the company’s response. That report ultimately determined that Cruise’s leadership had a “myopic” focus on the media’s response to the crash, and that it left out important facts when discussing the event with the public and with regulators.

The crash, and Cruise’s handling of it, are now the subject of many government investigations. The Department of Justice, Securities and Exchange Commission, California Department of Motor Vehicles, California Public Utilities Commission and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration are all probing the company’s actions.

Kenner will start his new role at the company at a time when the entire robotaxi fleet is grounded. Cruise recently slashed its workforce by 24% and pushed out a number of high-level employees. Cruise co-founder and Kyle Vogt and co-founder Dan Kan resigned last year.

General Motors, which owns Cruise, has said it will scale back investment in the autonomous vehicle company by $1 billion this year. The automaker installed Glidden as chief administrative officer in November as it started sorting through why the company handled the October crash so poorly.