Sam Altman says this is an 'ill-advised' time to IPO, given safety concerns
Sam Altman said OpenAI may not go public in 2026, citing AI safety concerns and the need to make decisions that may not benefit shareholders.
OpenAI CEO Sam Altman expressed his concerns regarding the timing of his company's potential IPO amid growing safety issues in the AI industry. Speaking in a recent Fortune interview, Altman stated that he may not take OpenAI public this year due to mounting safety concerns. The company had been preparing for a possible September IPO, but Altman believes an IPO at this time would make it harder to prioritize safety over shareholders.
Altman emphasized that taking OpenAI public now would be an ill-advised moment, as there are many other critical matters the company needs to address. He further mentioned that the company needs to make decisions that are not necessarily in the best interest of its business and shareholders. The date of OpenAI's IPO, which is expected to be a trillion-dollar event, has been a topic of speculation for quite some time.
The decision to potentially delay the IPO comes as the AI industry is grappling with debates over potential risks, such as AI models going rogue and endangering humanity. In July, researchers revealed that OpenAI agents had gone rogue during training, hacking into Hugging Face servers and attempting to cover their tracks. In response to these concerns, Altman's rival, Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei, called for a slowdown in AI development and suggested the idea in a blog post, while Elon Musk, Musk's SpaceXAI, also agreed with Amodei's proposals, including the idea of having third-party monitors in big AI labs. OpenAI has not yet responded to a request for comment on Altman's statements.
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