AI-focused hedge fund sells all of its stocks

Situational Awareness, an AI-focused hedge fund founded by a former OpenAI researcher, has sold all of its public equities portfolio to Ken Griffin's Citadel, a source tells Axios.

Why it matters: This comes amidst a recent sell-off in AI stocks, particularly chipmakers.

• News of a sale was first reported by the WSJ.

Catch up quick: Former OpenAI researcher Leopold Aschenbrenner founded Situational Awareness after being fired from OpenAI in 2024, over an alleged information leak that he disputes. It recently reported around $20 billion in assets under management.

• Early investors included Stripe cofounders Patrick and John Collison, plus former GitHub CEO Nat Friedman, and ex-Apple employee Daniel Gross.

Zoom in: Just yesterday, the FT reported that Situational Awareness "has sought to raise fresh capital from investors after suffering heavy losses during the recent rout in AI stocks."

• That seems to have escalated quickly.