On July 30, one of the most successful AI investors alive sold his stock portfolio to Ken Griffin because his lenders ran out of patience.
The Wall Street Journal reported that Situational Awareness, the AI-focused hedge fund founded by former OpenAI researcher Leopold Aschenbrenner, sold the bulk of its public-stock portfolio to Citadel after steep losses. Reuters described the purchase as most of the stock holdings. Axios reported that the fund sold all of its public equities.
The accounts differ on the exact scope, but they agree on the important part: a concentrated, leveraged AI portfolio came under enough lender pressure that a large block of public stocks moved to Citadel. My interpretation is that the exposure moved to a buyer with more control over timing.
The Journal reported that Situational Awareness retained private-company positions, including Anthropic. The transaction was therefore a liquidity-driven sale from one part of the portfolio, not a neat verdict on every part of Aschenbrenner’s AI thesis.