Leopold Aschenbrenner's hedge fund Situational Awareness has unloaded most of its publicly traded holdings to Citadel, the firm controlled by billionaire Ken Griffin, following a month of heavy losses. The Wall Street Journal broke the news Thursday. Main Developments The sale marks a sharp reversal for the 25-year-old former OpenAI researcher, who launched the fund in 2024 with no prior trading experience. Despite the public portfolio liquidation, Situational Awareness retains its shares in Anthropic, the AI safety company where Aschenbrenner previously worked. Read also: Reddit Q2 Revenue Surges 61% But AI Search Threat Looms Background Aschenbrenner gained attention for publishing essays arguing that scaling artificial intelligence would demand massive investment in semiconductors, compute capacity, memory, and energy infrastructure. That thesis formed the backbone of his fund's strategy. Why It Matters The steep losses and subsequent selloff represent a dramatic comedown for a figure described as both scarily smart and brash. The outcome raises questions about whether bold AI investment theses can translate into successful fund management without deep trading experience. What's Next Citadel's acquisition of the portfolio leaves Situational Awareness operating with a significantly reduced public footprint. Whether Aschenbrenner rebuilds the public side or pivots entirely to private AI holdings remains an open question.