OpenAI rules out IPO in 2026, Altman says

OpenAI will not pursue an initial public offering in 2026, chief executive Sam Altman said in an interview published by Fortune on 12 September.

Altman said the timing would be wrong given current concerns about artificial intelligence safety. "I actually think that, given everything happening with safety, right now would be an ill-advised moment to go public, and we don't feel pressure on that," he told Fortune editor-in-chief Alyson Shontell in an interview on Friday 11 September.

Asked whether that meant 2027 instead, Altman said "I would say not 2026," adding that there is "a lot of stuff to do" on safety and alignment, and on how industry and governments can work together.

Fortune said the remarks marked the first on-the-record confirmation of OpenAI's IPO timing. The company has never disclosed a target date.

OpenAI confidentially filed for an IPO in June, according to the report. Chief financial officer Sarah Friar told staff in August that the company would go public in 2027.

Altman said OpenAI has discussed pausing development once it reaches new capability levels to allow safety work to catch up. He said leading AI labs may be close to reaching an agreement to slow development together.

He also said OpenAI wants to retain the ability to make decisions that might not align with investors' short-term interests.

The comments came a day after Anthropic chief executive Dario Amodei called on the industry to "pace the frontier", a position Altman said he agreed with. Anthropic is still expected to pursue its own IPO, with marketing reportedly possible as early as mid-October, according to Fortune. Further detail on OpenAI's revised timeline was not disclosed, according to Reuters via Investing.com.