AI Startups SSI, You.com Secure Funding; HP Reports Strong AI Sales

The artificial intelligence sector remains a focal point for investors and tech companies, as evidenced by three announcements this week.

A startup focused on AI safety founded by a former OpenAI executive secured $1 billion in funding, while an AI productivity platform raised $50 million. A major hardware provider reported robust quarterly earnings results, citing demand for AI-related systems.

Safe Superintelligence (SSI), a startup focused on creating advanced AI with built-in safety measures, secured $1 billion in funding from venture capital firms, according to a Wednesday (Sept. 4) announcement on its website.

The U.S. company was founded by former OpenAI Chief Scientist Ilya Sutskever and entrepreneurs Daniel Gross and Daniel Levy. NFDG, Andreessen Horowitz, Sequoia Capital, DST Global and SV Angel led the funding round.

SSI’s mission is to develop safe superintelligence, or AI systems that will surpass human capabilities while incorporating robust safeguards. The company described this goal as “the most important technical problem of our time” in its announcement.

Unlike many AI firms pursuing various applications, SSI dedicates itself solely to this long-term objective. The company plans to advance AI capabilities while simultaneously developing safety measures, aiming to ensure that safety protocols keep pace with increasing AI power.

The company is recruiting AI researchers and engineers, emphasizing its focus on assembling a team dedicated exclusively to the goal of safe superintelligence. SSI has offices in Palo Alto and Tel Aviv, locations the founders chose for their ability to attract top technical talent.

You.com, an AI productivity startup, raised $50 million in Series B funding, according to a Wednesday press release.

Georgian led the round, which was backed by Salesforce Ventures, Nvidia and others. The round brings the company’s total funding to $99 million.

The firm, which bills itself as an “AI productivity engine,” is targeting knowledge workers across industries.

“You.com is not a search engine focused on links — we’re a productivity engine focused on helping knowledge workers accomplish more,” CEO Richard Socher said in the release.

The company’s AI agents are making waves in healthcare and cybersecurity, per the release.

“By streamlining documentation and administrative tasks, we’ve significantly increased time for direct client care,” Guardian Recovery Vice President of Marketing Donald Prince said in the release.

You.com plans to use the capital to expand its enterprise offerings and cement its position in the AI productivity market.

Hewlett Packard Enterprise reported third-quarter earnings results Wednesday, buoyed by surging demand for AI systems.

The enterprise technology company’s revenue jumped 10% to $7.7 billion. Server sales, which include AI-optimized systems, soared 35% to $4.3 billion.

“We delivered a strong third quarter, with impressive revenue growth, especially from our AI system conversion, and we improved profitability,” Hewlett Packard Enterprise President and CEO Antonio Neri said in a news release.

The company has positioned itself to capitalize on the AI gold rush, offering specialized hardware and services for companies building large language models and other AI applications. This strategy appears to be paying off as businesses race to adopt AI capabilities.

“These results reflect our momentum in delivering on our edge-to-cloud strategy across networking, hybrid cloud and AI,” Neri added in the release.

The company raised its full-year earnings guidance, signaling confidence in continued AI-driven growth.

Hewlett Packard Enterprise Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer Marie Myers said in the release: “We are well positioned to capture share of the growing AI infrastructure market and expect to see the continuing benefit of our cost management efforts.”

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