Situational Awareness, the hedge fund founded in 2024 by ex-OpenAI researcher Leopold Aschenbrenner, has approached investors and lenders for fresh capital after suffering heavy losses in the recent artificial intelligence stock sell-off, the Financial Times reported Thursday.
The fund, which the Wall Street Journal said had around $20 billion in assets under management as of June 8, has also offered some investors the option to buy portfolio assets, according to the FT, citing people briefed on the discussions and a July 24 investor letter.
The size of the losses and amount sought were not disclosed. Aschenbrenner’s fund had gained 439% after fees through June, according to the letter, but the FT said borrowing increased the size of the fund’s bets, driving up losses when AI stocks collapsed during July’s market rout. Aschenbrenner also reportedly argued in the letter that the sell-off had created attractive investment opportunities.
Cointelegraph previously reported that the fund had made a big bet in its portfolio around the power and data centers supporting AI, including Bitcoin (BTC) miners pivoting into AI computing. A filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission in March showed about $1.11 billion in positions across seven Bitcoin miner stocks, including IREN, Core Scientific, Riot Platforms and CleanSpark.
Aschenbrenner wrote a series of essays on artificial general intelligence in mid-2024 around the same time he launched his Situational Awareness fund. In it, he predicted that AGI machines will outpace college graduates by the end of the decade.
Cointelegraph contacted Situational Awareness for comment but had not received a response by publication.