Citadel Swoops In to Save Situational Awareness

Too Situationally Aware to Fail Citadel bails out Leopold Aschenbrenner’s tanking hedge fund, the crack spread is growing, and nobody wants the SEC to kill quarterly reports. We're sorry, but something went wrong while fetching your podcast feeds. Please contact us at plus@slate.com for help. Episode Notes This week: Situational Awareness—an A.I.-forward hedge fund led by a former wunderkind and OpenAI employee—was tanking fast until a rival fund stepped in. Felix Salmon, Elizabeth Spiers, and Emily Peck explain the series of events that led to Citadel swooping in to buy the bulk of assets held by 25-year-old Leopold Aschenbrenner’s investment firm. Then, it’s time to talk about the “crack spread”—aka the reason we aren’t seeing relief at the gas stations despite steadying oil prices. And finally, the hosts discuss the backlash to the SEC’s proposal to do away with its quarterly report requirement. In the Slate Plus episode: Is Cheaper Gas Worth Your Time? Want to hear that discussion and hear more Slate Money? Join Slate Plus to unlock weekly bonus episodes. Plus, you’ll access ad-free listening across all your favorite Slate podcasts. You can subscribe directly from the Slate Money show page on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. Or, visit slate.com/moneyplus to get access wherever you listen. Podcast production by Jessamine Molli and Cheyna Roth.