Pioneering AI hedge fund with returns of 1000% since inception discovers the downside of leverage

Leopold Aschenbrenner reportedly asking for fresh capital. Former OpenAI employee Leopold Aschenbrenner established his Situational Awareness hedge fund to great fanfare in 2024. Betting on the AI boom, until as recently as June 2026, the growth in assets under management and investment returns had been explosive. Now though, the FT is carrying a story, that the fund has suffered losses sufficiently heavy to force Aschenbrenner to reach out to original investors and request fresh capital, as part of a letter sent out that the newspaper said it has seen. Returns since inception had exceeded 1000% and the fund had expanded to around $20 billion, according to the FT. Aschenbrenner was an AI wunderkind who launched his project in 2024 at the tender age of just 23. Aschenbrenner reportedly referred to the current situation as "the best buying opportunity since April 2025," in the letter the FT saw. Research boutique Citrini posted some commentary on the potential developments at Situational Awareness on X Thursday. "To put that into perspective, if you invested $100M with SALP at inception and wiped out ninety percent in July, your investment would be worth $230M," said Citrini.