OpenAI CEO Sam Altman said the company will not go public this year, despite having confidentially filed for an IPO. In an interview with Fortune Editor-in-Chief Alyson Shontell, Altman responded to a question about whether OpenAI felt pressure to “move too quickly” because of its IPO plans. The interview took place after the OpenAI-Hugging Face hacking incident. Saying that the company was not in a hurry to go public, Altman stated that the current period was not suitable for an IPO because of developments related to AI safety. He said OpenAI would go public when its business and the company were ready, and when it deemed society’s approach to the technology appropriate. Altman confirmed that the IPO would not take place in 2026. The New York Times reported in June that the company was targeting the third or fourth quarter of 2026, but had turned toward 2027 because of volatility in technology stocks and financial problems.
Why it matters
The confidential filing does not mean that the IPO process will be completed in the short term; expectations regarding the company’s timeline for going public therefore cannot be considered settled. Altman’s statements show that the decision is linked not only to financial preparations but also to AI safety and society’s approach to the technology. This approach indicates that the changes to the timeline previously raised due to volatility in technology stocks and the company’s financial problems are also consistent with the company’s own assessment. However, it remains unclear according to which criteria the business and corporate readiness required for an IPO will be determined and when society’s approach to the technology will be considered appropriate; therefore, the claim that it will happen in 2027 should also be viewed not as a confirmed date but as a direction mentioned in earlier reports.
Background
OpenAI is not a new name in the FikirPilot archive: we have published 35 articles mentioning this name in the last 90 days; the latest is dated 15 September 2026.
Term: initial public offering
An initial public offering is when a company’s shares begin trading on a stock exchange for the first time; while raising capital, the company also assumes the obligation to regularly report its financial results to the public.