Safe Superintelligence (SSI), the stealth-mode AI startup launched by OpenAI co-founder Ilya Sutskever, has chosen Google Cloud as its primary computing partner. In a newly announced collaboration, SSI will leverage Google’s TPU (Tensor Processing Unit) chips to accelerate its mission: developing safe superintelligent AI.
Google confirmed on Wednesday that its cloud division will provide the high-performance computing infrastructure powering SSI’s AI research and development. This move aligns Google Cloud with one of the most secretive and well-funded AI ventures in the race toward artificial general intelligence (AGI).
Cloud providers are competing fiercely for billion-dollar AI startups like SSI—companies that burn through hundreds of millions annually training massive AI foundation models. By securing this deal, Google Cloud positions itself at the center of SSI’s operations. According to a source familiar with the matter, Google Cloud is now SSI’s main computing vendor, suggesting a deep and possibly exclusive partnership.
This isn’t the first time Google Cloud has formed strategic alliances with former insiders. In October 2024, it inked a similar deal with World Labs, founded by ex-Google Cloud AI chief scientist Fei-Fei Li. The pattern signals a broader strategy: betting on alumni-led ventures shaping the next wave of AI breakthroughs.
Though details remain scarce, SSI’s exclusive partnership with Google Cloud indicates the startup may not be working with other cloud providers—at least for now. When asked for clarification, a Google Cloud spokesperson declined to comment. Safe Superintelligence has yet to release an official statement on the matter.
Launched in June 2024, just months after Sutskever’s exit from OpenAI, SSI has remained largely silent about its progress. However, the startup has already raised $1 billion in funding from heavyweight investors like Andreessen Horowitz, Sequoia Capital, DST Global, and SV Angel. On its website, SSI makes its focus crystal clear: building safe, superintelligent AI is its singular goal—both its mission and its product roadmap.
Sutskever’s journey to SSI follows a dramatic chapter in the AI world. As OpenAI’s former chief scientist, he was a key architect of the company’s AI safety initiatives. But his legacy became more complicated after he played a controversial role in the temporary ousting of OpenAI CEO Sam Altman in November 2023. Although he later joined efforts to bring Altman back, Sutskever faded from OpenAI’s public-facing operations and eventually moved on.
Before co-founding OpenAI, Sutskever was already a respected figure in AI research, having worked at Google Brain on deep learning and neural networks. His return to the Google ecosystem—this time as a cloud customer—marks a full-circle moment in the evolving battle for AI dominance.
As the race to build artificial superintelligence heats up, SSI’s low-profile yet high-impact approach—and its powerful new alliance with Google Cloud—signals that it may soon emerge as a major force in the field.
