OpenAI alumni are emerging as a new "mafia" in Silicon Valley. Since OpenAI was founded, many employees have left the company. Some have set up their own startups and have also emerged as competitors to OpenAI.

Anthropic is a representative example. TechCrunch reported on Thursday that Anthropic, founded in 2021 by siblings Dario Amodei (다리오 아모데이) and Daniela Amodei (다니엘라 아모데이), has grown rapidly while stressing AI safety. It recently raised a $30 billion Series G round and its corporate value stands at $380 billion.

Thinking Machines Lab, founded by former OpenAI CTO Mira Murati (미라 무라티), posted a corporate value of $12 billion even before releasing a product. Safe Superintelligence, set up by former OpenAI chief scientist Ilya Sutskever (일리야 수츠케버), also demonstrated market interest by raising $20 billion in investment despite having no revenue.

Other startups founded by former OpenAI engineers, including Perplexity, Kindo and Prosper Robotics, are also drawing attention in the market.

Beyond founding AI startups, a growing number of OpenAI alumni are also turning into investors. Former sales leader Alyssa Rosenthal (알리사 로젠탈) is seeking investment opportunities by using an "OpenAI alumni" network, and former head of consumer products Peter Deng (피터 뎅) is working as a partner at venture capital firm Felicis.