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Altman Rules Out OpenAI Listing in 2026, Says It Would Be 'Ill-Advised' Now
OpenAI has already filed confidentially for an IPO, but CEO Sam Altman says the company will not go public in 2026, calling the present moment ill-advised given the state of AI safety.
Altman made the remarks in an interview with Fortune editor in chief Alyson Shontell, who asked whether the company still felt pressure to move quickly because of its plans to list. "We're not rushing into an IPO," he said.
Pressed on whether that ruled out a listing this year, Altman answered, "I would say not 2026, yeah. We've got a lot of stuff to do." He described the eventual timing as a matter of readiness on both sides: "when we're ready, which is when the business is ready, when we feel ready from what the moment is like in society with this technology."
The conversation took place against the fallout from a hack involving OpenAI and HuggingFace, alongside wider debate over AI safety. Altman pointed to that backdrop when he said it would be an "ill-advised moment to go public."
The New York Times reported in June that OpenAI had hired bankers and lawyers with the goal of listing in the third or fourth quarter of 2026, but was leaning toward 2027 instead because of volatility in technology stocks and its own financial challenges.