Meet the young billionaires getting filthy rich off AI and their lavish purchases
Silicon Valley’s artificial intelligence boom is spawning a new class of billionaires who are barely old enough to rent a car — but now rich enough to live large in California’s most lavish mega-mansions.Despite fears of a bubble, the AI market is poised to hit a fever pitch this year as San Francisco-based Anthropic plots an IPO at a valuation of $1 trillion or more.Even lesser-known startups and financial firms have raised billions as investors desperately try to cash in on the craze.
More than 80 such AI billionaires exist on Forbes’ annual ranking of the world’s wealthiest people exist, worth a collective $2.9 trillion.And 45 of them joined in just the past year.The list includes well-known execs like Anthropic’s brother-and-sister management team Dario and Daniela Amodei and OpenAI CEO Sam Altman — along with a smattering of more obscure scientists, founders and investors getting filthy rich.“We’re seeing a lot of people in their 20s, 30s and 40s who have access to a significant amount of liquidity,” said Alexander Fromm Lurie, a San Francisco realtor at City Real Estate who works with tech buyers.
“The demographic has gotten younger because of how fast the valuations have grown.”Below, meet the new crop of young tech billionaires making their mark on Silicon Valley.Lucy Guo made much of her estimated net worth of $1.3 billion from co-founding ScaleAI at the age of 21.
The startup labels high-quality data that powers the technology and provides the testing infrastructure required to build, train and refine artificial intelligence models.Last year, she unseated Taylor Swift as the world’s youngest self-made female billionaire when her existing 5% stake in ScaleAI, which she departed in 2018, ballooned during the current AI boom that started in 2023.ScaleAI’s valuation has since surged to $29 billion, and Guo is now using some of her wealth to spearhead Passes, a fan engagement platform.Guo splits her time between Los Angeles, wher...