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Sam Altman says OpenAI IPO unlikely in 2026

techSep 12, 2026241,003

OpenAI Chief Executive Sam Altman said OpenAI will not go public in 2026, calling a 2026 IPO an "ill-advised" move given current AI safety concerns and market timing. Altman told Fortune the company is delaying any public offering while it pursues "safety evaluations" and more work on alignment. Wall Street had been widely positioned for a massive OpenAI IPO by the end of the year, but Altman said that plan is not happening now. The comments accompanied broader calls from other AI leaders, including Anthropic's Dario Amodei, for slower, more cautious development of frontier models. Some outlets and commentators have interpreted the delay as driven by financial or market-timing considerations as well as safety; a Business Insider piece questioned the sincerity of the safety rationale. Bloomberg and Axios reported the decision as a formal postponement while OpenAI focuses on safety work. The immediate consequence is that investors and IPO markets must wait, and OpenAI will prioritize additional safety and alignment efforts before revisiting a public offering timeline.

Phil Lewis
@phillewis.bsky.social

OpenAI will not go public in 2026, Sam Altman said as he raised safety concerns over artificial intelligence

1915h ago
Quoting this
Cloaca Ars Goetia ☭𖤐ѧ63

iirc if they DON’T go public before the end of 2026 there are massive financial issues they’ll have to contend with, which means somehow those problems are preferable to the financial scrutiny of going public this is goddamn delicious

Win98 Tech Support51

Hahahahahahahaha bubble is fucking REAL hahahahahaha

Cullen43

yeah right its because he still cant get eyebrows

Ieda Marcondes28

Aham, sim, ESSE é o problema, não um monte de gente se demitindo de uma empresa que dá prejuízo. isaiprofitable.com

Return of the Cmonmacques21

The company is totally financially ready to go public. They wanna ipo so bad because it would go great. It’s just too darn dangerous for humanity is the thing

Mx. Fee18

If anyone is doubting that this whole "our AI is going to take over the world and kill everyone" spiel is a funding push, boy have I got a bridge to sell you.

Curb Your Malthusiasm13

Completely made up “safety concerns” about human extinction from AI CEOs. Completely detached from reality discourse about trans people by bigots. Complete erasure of the ongoing horrors in Palestine, Lebanon, and Iran by Zionists. On literally no issue are we having real, sober conversations

Marian Call11

i know this isn't what happened, but in my fanfiction, Sam had a revelation (perhaps brought on by 3 visiting ghosts) that a governance structure of profit-motivated shareholders is fundamentally incompatible with high safety standards for products with potential for harm

R. Sera8

I know stuff has been done harmfully but is there anything in the trajectory of the tech that actually justifies this? or is it just better sounding than "our model is a moneysink"

Brendan C. Byrne8

oh *that's* what this was about

Leah McElrath
@leahmcelrath.bsky.social

Saying it would be an “ill-advised moment” given current AI safety concerns, Sam Altman announced that OpenAI is delaying its IPO and will not go public this year.

515h ago
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