AI hedge fund Situational Awareness sells public portfolio to Citadel after steep losses
Original: AI hedge fund Situational Awareness may have sold its public portfolio, but it still has its Anthropic shares
Why This Matters
The rapid rise and sharp decline of a high-profile AI infrastructure fund highlights the volatility risk in leveraged AI-sector investing.
Situational Awareness, the AI-focused hedge fund run by ex-OpenAI researcher Leopold Aschenbrenner, sold the bulk of its public stock portfolio to Citadel after losses drove AUM from ~$45B at peak down to roughly $10B. The fund still holds its Anthropic shares.
Situational Awareness, the hedge fund founded by 25-year-old former OpenAI researcher Leopold Aschenbrenner, has sold the majority of its public equity holdings to Ken Griffin's Citadel following sharp losses over the past month, according to The Wall Street Journal and Bloomberg. The fund's assets under management fell to approximately $10 billion, down from a peak of around $45 billion. Hard-hit positions included memory chip makers SK Hynix and Sandisk, clean energy firm Bloom Energy, and neocloud provider Nebius Group — each down more than 30% in the past month. Losses were amplified by leverage. Despite the selloff, Aschenbrenner sent a July 24 letter to investors calling the decline 'one of the best buying opportunities since early last year' and soliciting fresh capital beginning August 1; Bloomberg reported the appeal did not attract the commitments he sought. The fund had delivered a 439% return through June, per the Financial Times. Early backers include Jane Street, Stripe co-founders Patrick and John Collison, and tech executives Daniel Gross and Nat Friedman. The fund retains its private Anthropic stake. Aschenbrenner was previously dismissed from OpenAI in 2024 over an alleged improper disclosure of internal information.