Lee Ainslie’s hedge fund firm backed ChatGPT’s creator long before the chatbot became synonymous with the artificial-intelligence boom.
Maverick Capital invested in Sam Altman’s first company, Loopt, in 2010, and four years later partnered with Y Combinator while he was president of the startup accelerator.
“Our long-standing relationship” with Altman “helped our early awareness of the potential import of generative AI,” Ainslie wrote in a letter to investors Sunday, which makes public the firm’s early focus on the burgeoning technology.
“Thanks to this relationship, Maverick was fortunate to have early looks at the efforts of OpenAI,” he added, referring to the company that developed ChatGPT.
Ainslie, who founded Maverick in 1993, contends AI will “be the most important development for the investment landscape in my career.”
He joins a chorus of hedge fund founders championing the sector, including billionaire Stanley Druckenmiller, Citadel’s Ken Griffin, Coatue Management’s Philippe Laffont and Point72 Asset Management’s Steve Cohen. The high-profile investors have pointed to AI’s potential to create jobs and revolutionize industries.
Read More: Steve Cohen Is ‘Pretty Bullish’ on Markets Thanks to AI
A spokesman for Maverick didn’t immediately respond to a message seeking comment.
Early Bets
AI-related long and short bets make up the largest theme of Maverick’s stock portfolio — and have contributed the most to that fund’s gain this year.
Given that AI requires more resources than traditional computing, Maverick predicts that cloud-related companies stand to gain from the trend. Others indirectly tied to AI will come out on top and face significant upside since their valuations don’t yet reflect their potential to benefit, according to Maverick.
Conversely, the firm has short wagers on companies “whose fundamental business models will likely be impaired or disrupted by widespread adoption of sophisticated AI,” Ainslie said in the letter.
Maverick started devoting major resources to better understand AI almost a year ago. The firm connected with academics, AI labs and venture arms of large corporations to assess the technology’s full potential. Maverick also met with private AI companies and in March hosted an event for 500 industry developers.
That research helped the firm conclude that fierce demand for the computing power needed to drive AI would lead to a shortage of graphic processing units.
“Recognition of this supply/demand imbalance months before this dynamic became common knowledge has proven very valuable,” Ainslie wrote.
Maverick has an early-stage venture fund devoted to AI and has met with more than 100 startups. Its Growth Fund has a stake in a semiconductor company focused on supporting the technology, according to the letter.
Maverick said it expects to invest even more in AI this year.