1. From Manifesto to $45 Billion

In April 2024, Leopold Aschenbrenner was fired from OpenAI over alleged data leak concerns. Instead of retreating into obscurity, the 22-year-old analyst published a massive 165-page manifesto titled “Situational Awareness.” In it, he boldly predicted that AGI (human-level artificial intelligence) would arrive by 2027 and that superintelligence would fundamentally reshape the global geopolitical order. The essay went viral across Silicon Valley. Aschenbrenner instantly gained status as the "AGI Prophet," enabling him to raise billions from top-tier institutional investors and launch his own hedge fund: Situational Awareness LP. What Was the Strategy? Lacking formal portfolio management experience, Aschenbrenner went all-in on a singular thesis: Long Positions: Massive bets on semiconductor giants and physical AI infrastructure (Nvidia, chip manufacturers, data center suppliers). Short Positions: Aggressive bets against traditional software companies that he believed would be rendered obsolete by AI automation. Extreme Leverage: To maximize returns, the fund borrowed heavily to amplify its exposure. As long as the AI sector rallied, the strategy seemed unstoppable. By early 2026, the fund's returns soared into the hundreds of percent, pushing its assets under management (AUM) to a peak of $45 billion.

I AM SULTAN