Leopold Aschenbrenner

Leopold Aschenbrenner is a German artificial intelligence researcher and investor best known for his work on AI alignment and his influential essay Situational Awareness. Raised in Germany, he studied at the John F. Kennedy School in Berlin before graduating as valedictorian from Columbia University in 2021 at the age of 19. He later conducted research at Oxford University’s Global Priorities Initiative and co-authored a working paper with Philip Trammell in 2024. Active in the effective altruism movement, he served on the FTX Future Fund team until the organization collapsed in late 2022.

In 2023, Aschenbrenner joined OpenAI’s “Superalignment” project, which focused on ensuring that future superintelligent systems align with human values. His time at the company became controversial after he raised concerns about security vulnerabilities and possible industrial espionage, particularly from foreign actors. OpenAI later dismissed him in April 2024 over an alleged information leak, which he disputed as a benign sharing of a brainstorming document. The firing coincided with growing internal tensions, and the “Superalignment” team was dissolved shortly thereafter with the departure of other key researchers.

Following his exit from OpenAI, Aschenbrenner turned to investing, co-founding an AI-focused hedge fund with Patrick and John Collison, Daniel Gross, and Nat Friedman. Named after his essay Situational Awareness, the fund has grown to manage over $1.5 billion as of 2025.

His essay, published in 2024, is a 165-page analysis of the trajectory of artificial general intelligence (AGI) and its implications for global security. It forecasts the rise of AGI and the possibility of superintelligence, outlines existential risks, and argues for what he calls “AGI realism.” The essay also warns that the United States must prepare to defend against the misuse of AI technologies by geopolitical rivals, emphasizing the potential for recursive self-improvement and runaway superintelligence.