Leopold Aschenbrenner, a former OpenAI researcher, founded the hedge fund Situational Awareness in 2024. The fund, which reportedly managed around $24 billion by early June, has seen substantial losses in July 2026, forcing it to unwind trades and scramble to raise fresh capital from existing investors and lenders. These losses are attributed to a significant sell-off in artificial intelligence stocks and an unsuccessful bet against software companies during July's market rout.
Prior to these losses, Situational Awareness had boasted impressive returns, reportedly gaining 439% after fees through June. However, reports indicate that aggressive borrowing amplified the fund's exposure, significantly increasing the impact of the July downturn. Aschenbrenner reportedly argued in a July 24 investor letter that the recent sell-off has created attractive investment opportunities, even offering some investors the option to buy portfolio assets directly.
The fund had made substantial investments in companies supporting AI infrastructure, including a significant stake in Bitcoin miners that are pivoting to AI computing. A March SEC filing revealed approximately $1.11 billion in positions across seven Bitcoin miner stocks, such as IREN, Core Scientific, Riot Platforms, and CleanSpark. Aschenbrenner gained notoriety for his mid-2024 essays predicting that artificial general intelligence (AGI) would surpass human intelligence by the end of the decade, around the same time he launched his fund.
