Former OpenAI Researcher Buys AMD, NVIDIA Calls After $35B Loss

Key Takeaways

• Leopold Aschenbrenner is buying call options on AMD and NVIDIA after his fund lost roughly $35 billion.
• Situational Awareness dropped from a peak of over $45 billion to about $10 billion in July.
• JPMorgan Chase terminated its lending relationship with Situational Awareness due to steep losses.
• Anthropic claims Chinese firms Moonshot and DeepSeek sent 35 million requests to Claude for data distillation.
• Together AI achieved over 22 PFLOPS performance with its ThunderKittens model on NVIDIA Rubin hardware.
• Sakana AI released Fugu Max and Fugu Ultra v2 at prices 40 to 60 percent cheaper than Sonnet 5.
• LG AI Research and the National Pension Service agreed to use EXAONE for analyzing 8,000 stocks daily.
• Google Cloud and Accenture launched a joint business group to train 1,000 engineers in AI applications.
• Duluth Public Schools authorized staff use of Google's Gemini AI for administrative tasks in 2026.
• SpaceX stock rose 11.2% recently but trades at a price-to-book ratio of 15.8x, analysts say.

Former OpenAI Researcher Bets on AI Stocks After Big Loss

Former OpenAI researcher Leopold Aschenbrenner is buying AI stock options again after his fund lost most of its value. His fund, called Situational Awareness, dropped from over $45 billion to about $10 billion after big losses in July. Aschenbrenner is now using call options to bet on companies like AMD and Bloom Energy. This move lets him gain exposure to stock prices without buying the shares directly. Experts are watching closely to see if his new strategy will succeed.

Leopold Aschenbrenner Returns to AI Stock Market Despite Losses

Leopold Aschenbrenner is investing in AI stocks again just weeks after his fund lost an estimated $35 billion. He worked at OpenAI from 2015 to 2018 before starting his own fund called Archimedes. Aschenbrenner told Bloomberg he is not worried about short-term price changes and believes in the long-term success of these companies. He is buying shares in major tech firms like NVIDIA and Alphabet. Many experts thought it would take a long time for him to recover from such a huge financial loss.

Situational Awareness Buys AI Options After Summer Losses

The investment firm Situational Awareness has started buying options for AI and tech stocks like Advanced Micro Devices and CoreWeave. This marks a return for Aschenbrenner after his fund suffered a major drop in value during the summer. The fund's assets fell to about $10 billion, which is more than a three-quarter drop from its peak in early July. The firm still holds investments in private companies such as Anthropic. Using options allows the firm to take big risks without buying the actual shares.

JPMorgan Ends Lending to Situational Awareness After AI Losses

JPMorgan Chase stopped lending money to the hedge fund Situational Awareness after the firm lost a lot of value in AI stocks. The fund, launched in 2024 by former OpenAI researcher Leopold Aschenbrenner, had made huge profits before the recent losses. In July, a drop in chip stock prices forced the fund to sell most of its holdings to Citadel. JPMorgan ended its lending relationship because of these steep losses. Other banks like Goldman Sachs and Bank of America also declined to comment on the situation.

Chinese AI Labs Sent Millions of Requests to Claude

Anthropic reported that Chinese AI labs sent at least 35 million requests to their Claude AI model during the summer. These requests were part of distillation attacks where other systems try to learn from Claude's answers. The company stated that these labs routed user requests to Claude instead of using their own models. This activity highlights how some AI systems rely on others for information. The report comes from Anthropic, the company that created the Claude model.

Anthropic accuses Chinese AI firms of stealing user data

Anthropic claims that Moonshot and DeepSeek secretly sent user requests to its Claude models. The company released a 154-page report stating these firms used a network of platforms to clone American AI technology. Beijing rejected these allegations on Wednesday, calling them an attempt to suppress China's AI industry. The US government agencies also criticized the Chinese AI practices regarding user data misuse.

Together AI hits 22 PFLOPS on NVIDIA Rubin with ThunderKittens

Together AI announced that its ThunderKittens model reached over 22 PFLOPS on the NVIDIA Vera Rubin NVL72 system. The team rebuilt its NVFP4 GEMM to match the new Rubin ISA and improved performance from 42 percent to over 22 PFLOPS. This result makes the tool competitive with cuBLAS and CuTe DSL. Meanwhile, a16z argues investors must rethink their strategies for the new AI era, and Cursor launched Projects to help structure agent work.

Sakana AI releases Fugu Max and Fugu Ultra v2 for cheaper AI tasks

Sakana AI launched Fugu Max and Fugu Ultra v2 to offer stronger multi-agent orchestration at lower costs. Fugu Max costs $2 per 1 million input tokens and $6 per 1 million output tokens, which is 40 to 60 percent cheaper than Sonnet 5, GPT 5.6 Terra, and Kimi K3. The models achieved the best scores on six benchmarks including Terminal Bench 2.1 and SWEFish. Fugu Ultra v2 excels at complex reasoning and visual tasks, scoring 48.3 on Chartography compared to 27.3 for Opus 5. Both models are available today through Sakana's OpenAI-compatible API to help users avoid vendor lock-in.

Treecampus expands free English learning with AI tools and live classes

Treecampus Academy Foundation is expanding its free English education program with online courses, live classes, and AI support. The platform offers free spoken English courses to help beginners and professionals improve their communication skills. Learners can access these resources from home or work using the Treecampus mobile app. The organization also introduced Treeacher for learning assistance and Spokee for interactive speaking practice with a virtual companion.

LG AI Research and National Pension Service partner on fund management

LG AI Research and the National Pension Service signed an agreement to use AI for managing Korea's national pension fund. Their first project will use an AI tool called EXAONE Business Intelligence to analyze currency movements and economic indicators. This system can analyze more than 8,000 stocks in Korea and the United States each day. The partnership aims to improve investment research and decision-making while ensuring the safety of public pension assets.

Google and Accenture launch joint AI business group

Google Cloud and Accenture have created a new joint unit called the Accenture Gemini Enterprise Business Group. This team will train up to 1,000 engineers to help customers build and use AI applications. The partnership aims to help businesses make better decisions and grow by using Google's AI tools and Accenture's expertise. Customers will get access to advanced machine learning capabilities to improve their operations and services.

Duluth Public Schools allow staff to use Gemini AI

Duluth Public Schools has approved the use of Google's Gemini AI tool for its staff starting the 2026-2027 school year. Teachers and administrators can use the software to help with lesson planning, creating units, and making assessments. The district requires all staff to complete training on privacy rules before they can use the tool. Students are not allowed to access the software, and leaders worry about data privacy risks.

SpaceX stock appears overvalued despite AI contract hopes

Space Exploration Technologies stock rose 11.2% in the last month, but analysts say it remains expensive compared to industry averages. The company trades at a price-to-book ratio of 15.8x, which is much higher than the telecom average of 1.8x. Investors are excited about the company's AI data center plans and Starship rocket projects, but heavy spending and potential risks weigh on the stock. Experts believe the current high price may not leave enough room for errors in the company's growth story.

GITEX AI summit in Istanbul pushes for global tech investment

The GITEX AI Türkiye summit concluded in Istanbul with a strong push for global technology investment. The two-day event brought together tech giants like Google Cloud, Nvidia, and Huawei along with investors and startups. Turkish officials and industry leaders discussed practical ways to integrate AI into sectors like banking, logistics, and fraud monitoring. Local startups from the Turcorn 100 program used the event to connect with foreign investors and expand their markets.

Sources

• Former OpenAI Researcher Bets on AI Stocks After $35 Billion Wipeout
• Former OpenAI Researcher Bets on AI Stocks After $35 Billion Wipeout
• Leopold Aschenbrenner Returns to the Market After Situational Awareness' Rout With New AI Options Bets
• JPMorgan cut off Situational Awareness lending after AI losses, FT reports
• China AI labs routed requests to Claude 35 million times: Anthropic
• Anthropic claims Moonshot, DeepSeek secretly diverted user requests to Claude
• Together AI ThunderKittens on Rubin, a16z Rethinks AI, Cursor Projects
• Sakana AI Launches Fugu Max and Fugu Ultra v2 for Cheaper, Stronger Multi-Agent Orchestration
• Treecampus Expands Free English Education with Online Courses, Live Classes and AI Learning
• LG AI institute, National Pension Service join forces to manage retirement funds
• Google and Accenture Team Up to Accelerate Enterprise AI Adoption
• Duluth Public Schools approves AI for staff use
• SpaceX (SPCX) Stock Still Looks Rich As AI Contract Buzz Builds
• GITEX AI Türkiye tech summit concludes with push for global technology investment