Leopold Aschenbrenner
Founder & CIO, Situational Awareness LP
About
Leopold Aschenbrenner is a German-born AI researcher and investor who graduated as valedictorian from Columbia University at age 19. He joined OpenAI's Superalignment team in 2023 and co-authored the 'Weak to Strong Generalization' paper before being fired in April 2024. He subsequently published 'Situational Awareness: The Decade Ahead,' a 165-page essay predicting AGI by 2027 that became one of the most discussed AI policy documents of the year. He founded Situational Awareness LP, an AI-focused hedge fund managing over $1.5 billion.
Key Contributions
- Published 'Situational Awareness: The Decade Ahead' on AGI timelines and national security
- Co-authored 'Weak to Strong Generalization' on OpenAI's Superalignment team
- Founded Situational Awareness LP, a $1.5B+ AI-focused hedge fund
- Shaped US AI policy discourse around AGI preparedness and compute security
- Columbia University valedictorian at age 19 in economics and mathematics
