Situational Awareness, the hedge fund managed by 24-year-old Leopold Aschenbrenner, has seen its assets under management plummet from $45 billion to $10 billion.
The collapse follows a severe reversal in the artificial intelligence trade, which triggered a broad sell-off in semiconductor equities and erased much of the fund’s value.
The loss of $35 billion in AUM represents a significant contraction in one of the industry’s most high-profile recent launches.
The fund, formerly hailed as one of Wall Street’s most promising new entrants, was built on Aschenbrenner’s background as a former OpenAI researcher.
Its rapid ascent mirrored the broader market enthusiasm for AI infrastructure, but the recent downturn in chip stocks has exposed the fragility of that positioning.
The loss of $35 billion in AUM represents a significant contraction in one of the industry’s most high-profile recent launches.
This development underscores the volatility inherent in the current AI investment cycle.