Situational Awareness, an AI-focused investment fund, has sold the bulk of its public stock portfolio to Ken Griffin’s Citadel following significant losses tied to its artificial intelligence infrastructure bets, according to media reports citing people familiar with the matter.
The fund, founded by former OpenAI researcher Leopold Aschenbrenner, unwound its publicly traded positions after a sharp reversal in AI-related stocks and losses from leveraged positions pressured the firm
Citadel reached a deal to acquire the fund’s public equity holdings, the people said. Situational Awareness had built a large portfolio around the growth of AI infrastructure, including investments in chipmakers, memory suppliers and data center companies. The fund suffered losses as several of those positions declined, while short positions in some software companies also moved against the firm, according to people familiar with the situation.
The firm’s rapid rise had made Aschenbrenner one of the most closely followed investors in the artificial intelligence sector. After launching Situational Awareness in 2024, the fund attracted significant capital as investors followed its high-conviction bets on the expansion of AI technology. Despite the sale of its public holdings, Situational Awareness is retaining its private investments, including its stake in AI model developer Anthropic.