AI Star Aschenbrenner Sells Stock Portfolio to Citadel After Rout

Leopold Aschenbrenner founded Situational Awareness in late 2024 after leaving OpenAI, turning a widely followed thesis on rapid progress toward artificial general intelligence into a concentrated investment strategy. The firm used leverage to bet on the infrastructure behind the AI boom and amassed more than $20 billion in assets in under two years. Returns exceeding 400% in the first half of 2026 made the 25-year-old manager one of Wall Street’s most closely watched AI investors.

Following a sharp July selloff in AI-linked stocks, Situational Awareness suffered steep losses and came under pressure from its banks to raise capital or reduce exposure. After Aschenbrenner spoke with Citadel founder Ken Griffin late on July 29, the fund agreed on July 30 to sell Citadel the bulk of a public-equity portfolio once valued at about $16 billion. Situational Awareness is expected to continue as a private-investment firm, retaining holdings including an Anthropic stake valued at roughly $5 billion.