While OpenAI has confidentially filed for an initial public offering, the company will not go public this year, according to CEO Sam Altman. Altman was recently interviewed by Fortune editor-in-chief Alyson Shontell; Amid the fallout from the OpenAI-HuggingFace hack, as well as broader discussions about AI security, Shontell asked if OpenAI still feels pressure to “move very quickly” due to its IPO plans. “We’re not rushing into an IPO,” Altman said. “In fact, I think, given everything that’s going on with security, right now would be an inadvisable time to go public.” Instead, he insisted that OpenAI will go public “when we are ready, which is when the business is ready, when we feel ready because of what the moment is in society with this technology.” When asked if that means the IPO won’t happen in 2026, Altman responded: “I would say not in 2026, yes. We have a lot of things to do.” The New York Times reported in June that while OpenAI had hired bankers and lawyers with the goal of going public in the third or fourth quarter of 2026, the company was leaning toward 2027 due to volatility in tech stocks and its own financial challenges.
