Leopold Aschenbrenner’s AI-focused hedge fund Situational Awareness faced sharp trader skepticism on raising fresh outside capital by the August 31 deadline after July losses of roughly 67% triggered margin calls and a fire sale of its public equity portfolio to Citadel. The fund’s assets under management fell from peaks near $45 billion to around $10 billion, prompting outreach to existing investors for ad hoc commitments rather than a formal round, while JPMorgan later curtailed lending. Its continued deployment into private AI infrastructure bets, including a $400 million commitment to chip-manufacturing startup Source Foundry, signaled stabilization efforts but did little to shift consensus toward a rapid outside raise amid reputational strain and operational focus on deleveraging.