Top AI millionaires and how they got their massive fortunes
Artificial intelligence is changing the way we live, work and play. Meet the global AI kings and queens and how they made their millions.
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The world of artificial intelligence has a growing number of wealthy investors and creators who are pushing technology to new heights to create a more automated future for us to live in.
See who some of the world’s biggest AI millionaires are — which also include an Australian among them.
THE BOSSES
Sam Altman
On-again-off-again-on-again CEO OpenAI
A Silicon Valley veteran who is estimated to be worth hundreds of millions of dollars, Altman co-founded his first company in 2005 at the age of 19. The company, Loopt, was sold for US43.4m ($A65m) in 2012. He’s also been involved in investment group Y Combinator and message board Reddit.
Appointed CEO of OpenAI, which owns the popular ChatGPT AI, in 2015. Early this year Altman said the company, which has taken investment from big tech players including Microsoft and PayPal co-founder Peter Thiel, was worth $US29bn ($A44bn) – but that was before a tumultuous four days in November when he was sacked and then reinstated following a staff revolt.
David Holz
Midjourney CEO
Founded in 2021, Midjourney has developed an AI of the same name that spits out images of anything you like, from the pope in a puffer jacket to knock-offs of fantasy art, based on text input.
Midjourney’s finances are a mystery as it has never taken money from an external investor, but in October, CB Insghts estimated it could be worth as much as $US10bn ($A15bn).
Palmer Luckey
Anduril co-founder
Luckey shot to prominence in Silicon Valley by founding virtual reality headset company Oculus VR at the age of 16 in 2009. Facebook bought the company for $US2bn ($A3bn) in 2014, reaping Luckey an estimated $US700m ($A1bn).
Waded into political controversy in 2016 by donating money to a group that bought a billboard depicting Hillary Clinton as “too big to jail” and was fired by Facebook boss Mark Zuckerberg in 2017, allegedly after he resisted Zuckerberg’s pressure to abandon Donald Trump in favour of Libertarian presidential candidate Gary Johnson.
Facebook denied the sacking was political but Luckey negotiated a $US100m ($A150m) payout and set up Anduril, which produces AI software for military drones and sensors. It’s now valued at $US8.5bn ($A12.8bn).
THE MONEY MEN
Marc Andreessen
Venture capitalist
When not busy penning lengthy rants on the internet, Andreessen runs venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz, or a16z.
It used to be all-in on cryptocurrencies and related technologies, but with that market cratering following the collapse of bitcoin prices and revelations of widespread fraud including by the man behind giant exchange FTX, Sam Bankman-Fried, a16z has pivoted hard to be all-in on AI instead.
While Andreessen is estimated to personally be worth $US1.7bn ($A2.6bn), most of a16z’s money comes from clients including Saudi Arabia and other Gulf countries. The firm has pumped hundreds of millions into dozens of AI ventures, including OpenAI.
Andreessen’s mouth is where the Saudis’ money is: in June he wrote a 6800-word screed proclaiming that “AI will save the world”.
Satya Nadella
Microsoft CEO
One of tech’s most boring companies has plunged deep into AI under Nadella’s leadership, investing $US10bn ($A15bn) into OpenAI.
Nadella, who has trousered more than $US1bn ($A1.5bn) in pay since taking the top job in 2014, has also played a key role in negotiating the return of OpenAI’s briefly deposed CEO, Sam Altman.
The 56-year-old was born in Hyderabad, India and did a computer science degree in the US state of Wisconsin before starting in the tech industry at another big but player, Sun Microsystems.
THE WEIRD UNCLE
Eliezer Yudkowsky
AI researcher
Yudkowsky’s ideas about AI, including his fears that a hyper intelligent one could emerge and kill us all, are influential among researchers in the area.
He’s also a key figure influencing the effective altruism movement, which crypto fraudster Bankman-Fried helped fund.
Founded the Singularity Institute for Artificial Intelligence in 2000 – it’s now known as the Machine Intelligence Research Institute.
Ideas developed on Yudkowsky’s website, LessWrong, include Roko’s Basilisk – an otherwise kind future super-AI that creates a simulation in which anyone who failed to help it come into being is tortured.
THE AUSSIE
Liesl Yearsley
Akin boss
In 2014 Yearsley sold her previous company, chatbot developer Cognea, to tech giant IBM for an amount that was undisclosed, but reportedly enough for her to retire.
She and other Cognea veterans now run Akin, which is using neuroscience research in a bid to develop a new generation of AIs.
The venture, which is backed by investors including big bank Westpac, is developing AIs for use in health, space and the home.
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Originally published as Top AI millionaires and how they got their massive fortunes
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