A penthouse overlooking London’s Hyde Park has been bought by AI pioneer Igor Babuschkin in a deal worth around £60 million.
The co-founder of Elon Musk’s xAI is said to have decided to buy the property in Bayswater as his new London residence about two weeks ago. The sale is the most expensive UK home deal in 12 months.
The apartment was sold by developer Fenton Whelan as part of the £530 million, 55-apartment Park Modern luxury development. Fenton Whelan is also developing a £110 million 'giga mansion' in Belgrave Square, which would become one of the most expensive single residences in London.
Last January, a 40-bedroom mansion in Regent’s Park was sold by a member of the Saudi royal family for around £139 million.
AI vision
Mr Babuschkin worked at Google’s DeepMind and OpenAI, before setting up xAI with Musk.
He oversaw engineering across infrastructure, products and applied AI projects, but left last year to found Babuschkin Ventures, a multi-billion investment firm focused on AI safety research and startups developing the technology.
According to Bloomberg, he decided on the London apartment deal days before Mr Musk announced he was combining the company with SpaceX in a $1.25 trillion deal. The pair are said to have a deep friendship and trust, with Musk investing $200 million in the new fund.
Announcing he was leaving xAI, Mr Babuschkin said he still remembered the day he met Musk. “We talked for hours about AI and what the future might hold.”
Mr Babuschkin was educated in Germany to Russian parents who left after the collapse of the USSR “in search of a better life for their kids”, he said. He carried out PhD research in particle physics at CERN in Geneva, before turning his attention to superintelligence and a “vision of AI used to benefit humanity”.
Super prime
Park Modern was designed by architect Lee Polisano of PLP Architecture and features a 24/7 uniformed concierge, function/private dining room, valet parking, 82ft (25-metre) swimming pool, sauna and steam rooms, gym, spa, private cinema, treatment room and salon.
The development also features The Park, a 8,600sq ft contemporary grande café by London restauranteur Jeremy King.
Sanjay Sharma, co-founding director of Fenton Whelan, said he was delighted by the penthouse sale “which establishes Park Modern as the pre-eminent super prime development in central London”.
He said it “proves yet again that exceptional buyers will always seek exceptional homes in a world-class city”.
Prices for the few remaining apartments range from £1.8 million to £42 million.
