How former OpenAI researcher Leopold Aschenbrenner turned a viral AI prophecy into profit, with a $1.5 billion hedge fund and outsize influence from Silicon Valley to D.C.

The 23-year-old’s career didn’t exactly start auspiciously: He spent time at the philanthropy arm of Sam Bankman-Fried’s now-bankrupt FTX cryptocurrency exchange before a controversial year at OpenAI, where he was ultimately fired. Then, just two mon... [23588 chars]