Google Cloud has announced a partnership with Safe Superintelligence (SSI), a new AI startup founded by OpenAI co-founder and former chief scientist Ilya Sutskever, to power its AI research with Google's Tensor Processing Unit (TPU) chips. The partnership, announced on Wednesday, marks a significant deal for Google Cloud as it competes with other cloud providers to attract high-spending AI startups.

According to the press release, SSI is using Google Cloud's TPU chips to "accelerate its research and development efforts toward building a safe, superintelligent AI." This partnership suggests that SSI will spend a substantial portion of its computing budget with Google Cloud, with a source familiar with the deal telling TechCrunch that Google Cloud is SSI's primary computing provider.

This partnership is not surprising, given Google Cloud's history of striking computing deals with its former AI researchers, many of whom have gone on to found billion-dollar AI startups. In October, Google Cloud announced a similar deal with World Labs, founded by ex-Google Cloud AI chief scientist Fei-Fei Li. Sutskever, who previously worked at Google, is one of the most prominent AI researchers to spin out of the company.

SSI, which came out of stealth in June 2024, has received $1 billion in backing from prominent investors such as Andreessen Horowitz, Sequoia Capital, DST Global, SV Angel, and others. Since its launch, little has been revealed about the startup's activities, except that its mission is to develop safe, superintelligent AI systems. Sutskever has stated that he has identified "a new mountain to climb" and is investigating new ways to improve the performance of frontier AI models.

Sutskever's departure from OpenAI was a significant event in the AI community. He played a key role in the ousting of OpenAI CEO Sam Altman in November 2023 and later joined an employee movement to reinstate Altman as CEO. After the ordeal, Sutskever reportedly wasn't seen at OpenAI's offices for months and ultimately left the startup to start SSI.

The partnership between Google Cloud and SSI highlights the intense competition among cloud providers to attract AI startups, which spend hundreds of millions of dollars on computing power every year to train AI foundation models. As AI startups continue to grow and require more computing resources, cloud providers like Google Cloud, Amazon Web Services, and Microsoft Azure are vying for their business.

The implications of this partnership are significant, as it could pave the way for more AI startups to partner with Google Cloud. With SSI's focus on developing safe, superintelligent AI systems, this partnership could also lead to breakthroughs in AI research and development. As the AI landscape continues to evolve, partnerships like this one will play a crucial role in shaping the future of AI innovation.

It remains to be seen if SSI has struck partnerships with other cloud or computing providers, but for now, Google Cloud appears to be its primary computing partner. A Google Cloud spokesperson declined to comment on the deal, and a Safe Superintelligence spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for comment.