Silicon Valley’s young billionaires getting rich from AI

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, 31 years old: ScaleAI co-founder

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, where she purchased a $30 million mansion in the Hollywood Hills/Bird Streets area, and a luxury condo in Miami.

She frequently hosts extravagant parties, hackathons, and networking events, though she maintains she lives by her motto “act broke, stay rich.”

Leopold Aschenbrenner, 24 years old, AI investor

Leopold Aschenbrenner is nicknamed the “Nostradamus of AI.”

A former researcher at ChatGPT creator OpenAI, Aschenbrenner made headlines after his AI-focused hedge fund, Situational Awareness LP, suffered a multibillion-dollar margin call that forced him to cancel his honeymoon to Anthropic chief of staff Avital Balwit.

His net worth has been estimated at $300 million, though the current scale of his personal wealth is unknown.

Download The California Post App, follow us on social, and subscribe to our newsletters

The German native lives in San Francisco, and his fund — fueled by a reported $5 billion stake in Anthropic — had $45 billion worth of assets at its peak. The fund reportedly returned 439% in the first half of this year, helping attract billions of dollars in investor capital.

What’s clear is Aschenbrenner has enjoyed the trappings of his young wealth. Just recently, he snapped up a nearly $20 million historic mansion in San Francisco’s coveted Nob Hill neighborhood that features manicured Japanese gardens, a putting green, an outdoor kitchen with a pizza oven, sweeping views of San Francisco Bay — and even a private apple orchard.

Brendan Foody, Adarsh Hiremath, Surya Midha; 23 years old; Mercor co-founders

Three former high school classmates from San Jose were declared last year to be the world’s youngest self-made billionaires.

The trio dropped out of college to go all in on launching Mercor, a startup meant to provide an AI tool that could assist companies with recruiting and interviewing new hires. The business later pivoted to data labeling, similar to ScaleAI’s work, and revenues soared.

A $350 million funding round that valued Mercor at $10 billion meant each of them became worth approximately $2.2 billion, according to Forbes.

The three young adults have not reported any lavish spending or house buying, however — perhaps because much of their accumulated wealth is still tied up in equity.

Steven Hao, 30 years old, Cognition co-founder

Tech executive Steven Hao previously was an engineer at Scale AI and a competitive programmer.

In late 2023, Hao co-founded Cognition AI to focus on autonomous AI workers. The company launched Devin in early 2024, an AI agent capable of planning, coding, debugging, and executing software tasks independently.

The startup’s valuation shot up after funding rounds to almost $10.2 billion and made his net worth around $1.3 billion.

There hasn’t been any publicly reported wild purchases by Hao, who lives in San Francisco.

Aravind Srinivas, 32 years old, Perplexity CEO

Aravind Srinivas is estimated to be worth around $2.1 billion. In August 2022, after working as an AI researcher at companies like Google and OpenAI, he co-founded Perplexity.

Perplexity is an AI-powered “answer engine” designed to replace traditional link-based search engines like Google. It hit a $20 billion valuation in 2025.

The young tech boss told Fortune that he dedicates almost all of his time to building his company and managing the pressures of the AI industry. He has come under controversy before, saying AI layoffs are fine because people hate their jobs.

Srinivas seems to be spending much of his personal wealth helping to cultivate other companies. He’s allocated personal capital as an angel investor in early-stage tech and AI startups, including companies like ElevenLabs and Suno.

Yuhai Wu, 31 years old, xAI co-founder

“Tony” Yuhuai Wu is a 31-year-old co-founder of Elon Musk’s artificial intelligence company xAI. His exact net worth is unknown, though his wealth was boosted after SpaceX acquired xAI, on a whopping combined valuation of $1.25 trillion.

Born in China, Wu departed xAI after the acquisition and became wealthier most likely after SpaceX’s record-breaking IPO, which minted many new billionaires and made Musk a trillionaire.

Wu recently made a eye-popping $70 million purchase of home modeled after a lakeside Italian villa in San Mateo County, with multiple bedrooms, bathrooms and sports facilities. He also previously bought a a $12 million Los Altos home.