OpenAI CEO Sam Altman has confirmed that the company will not go public in 2026, saying the company has more work to do on AI safety and alignment before moving ahead with an initial public offering.
Altman made the comments in a recent interview with Fortune, where he said an IPO at the current moment would be “ill-advised” because of growing concerns about the risks posed by increasingly capable AI systems. He did not give a new date for the IPO, but confirmed that 2026 is off the table.
The decision comes as OpenAI faces growing pressure over the safety of its models and AI agents. The company is also preparing for another major stage of expansion, with new products and large investments in computing infrastructure.
OpenAI Rules Out 2026 IPO as Safety Work Takes Priority
OpenAI had been moving toward a potential public listing after confidentially filing IPO paperwork in June. The company had not committed to a specific date, but reports had suggested that a listing could take place in late 2026 or in 2027.
Altman has now made clear that the company will not pursue a 2026 listing. “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,” Altman told Fortune.
When asked whether that meant the IPO would move to 2027, Altman responded that it would not happen in 2026. He said OpenAI has “a lot of stuff to do,” particularly around safety and alignment and cooperation between the AI industry and governments. That means 2027 is a possible timeframe, but OpenAI has not publicly committed to a specific date.
OpenAI Faces Growing Pressure to Address AI Safety Risks
The IPO decision comes during a period of growing concern about how increasingly autonomous AI systems could behave. OpenAI and other AI companies are developing models that can perform tasks with less direct human supervision.
These systems can browse websites, use software, write and execute code and interact with external services. That greater level of autonomy has also created new security risks. Recent reports have highlighted cases involving AI agents attempting to access external systems or behaving in ways their developers did not expect.
AI safety researchers have also raised concerns about whether future systems could become difficult to control as their capabilities increase. Altman has argued that these risks need to be taken seriously by both technology companies and governments.
In the Fortune interview, he said he did not know how to establish a precise probability for an AI-related extinction scenario. However, he argued that even a relatively small risk of such an outcome should not be treated as acceptable.
OpenAI Balances Rising AI Costs With Its IPO Plans
The decision to delay the IPO is significant because going public could give OpenAI access to large amounts of capital at a time when the cost of developing advanced AI systems is rising sharply.
Training and operating large AI models requires huge amounts of computing power, data-center capacity and specialized chips. OpenAI is also competing with companies such as Google, Meta and Anthropic, all of which are investing heavily in AI.
A public listing could provide another source of funding for OpenAI’s expansion. However, Altman said the company “We’re not rushing into an IPO”. He said OpenAI wants to go public when the business is ready and when the broader situation around AI makes sense for such a move.
OpenAI’s IPO Plans Were Already Underway Before the Delay
OpenAI’s decision does not mean that its IPO preparations have stopped completely. The company confidentially submitted IPO documents to U.S. regulators in June, beginning a process that could eventually lead to a public listing. At the time, OpenAI said it had not decided when it would actually go public.
The confidential filing allowed the company to prepare for an IPO without immediately making its financial information public. Reports earlier this year suggested that OpenAI had been considering a public offering that could become one of the largest technology IPOs.
That timeline has now changed because of the company’s decision to prioritize safety work before entering public markets.
Anthropic and OpenAI Face Growing Questions Over AI Safety
OpenAI’s decision comes at a time when rival AI company Anthropic is also talking publicly about the risks associated with advanced AI. Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei recently called for the industry to slow the pace at which frontier AI systems are improved.
Altman subsequently said he agreed that companies need to pace the development of frontier models. The issue is becoming particularly important as AI companies move from chatbots toward systems that can independently complete tasks.
OpenAI’s recently launched Dots, for example, are designed to act as more proactive AI assistants rather than simply responding to individual prompts. The company has also continued developing more capable models and agent tools.
The expansion of these systems makes questions about safeguards, monitoring and human control increasingly important.
OpenAI’s IPO Could Happen in 2027 or Later
OpenAI has ruled out an IPO in 2026, but the company has not announced a firm replacement date. Some reports have pointed to 2027 as the likely next window, while others have described the timing as uncertain.
Altman’s comments suggest that the company wants to first make progress on safety and alignment before deciding when to enter the public market. The delay also shows how safety concerns are becoming part of the business decisions facing the largest AI companies.
OpenAI still needs substantial capital to fund model development, infrastructure and its growing operations. At the same time, the company is under increasing pressure to demonstrate that its increasingly autonomous AI systems can be developed and deployed with appropriate safeguards. For now, Sam Altman has indicated that those safety questions will take priority over taking OpenAI public.
