OpenAI CEO Sam Altman has confirmed that the company will not hold an initial public offering (IPO) this year. In an interview with Fortune magazine on Friday, Altman said OpenAI is in no rush to go public, noting that current developments in AI safety make an IPO this year unwise, and that the company feels no pressure to do so.
Timing and valuation
Altman indicated that OpenAI will consider going public when the business and company are ready and the social environment is appropriate. When asked whether the company could be ready for an IPO by 2027, he replied: "I would say not 2026. Yes, we have a lot to do, such as addressing the current safety situation and thinking about how we cooperate with the industry and governments."
The New York Times reported in June that OpenAI was leaning toward postponing its IPO from this year to next year, when the company's valuation could reach $1 trillion (approximately 6.73 trillion yuan at current exchange rates). The report suggested that SpaceX, Elon Musk's rocket and AI company, was a factor in the delay. SpaceX initially raised $85 billion (about 571.65 billion yuan) through its IPO, saw its shares surge to a valuation of $1.8 trillion (about 12.11 trillion yuan) shortly after listing, and then quickly retreated.
Safety-first approach
In the interview, Altman hinted that OpenAI is likely to announce an agreement with other leading AI companies to slow down AI development in response to growing safety risks. He said he is willing to delay OpenAI's IPO for the sake of safety. He also mentioned that as AI capabilities reach new heights, OpenAI has considered temporarily halting development of frontier AI to buy more time for safety and alignment work. He believes that ideally, the entire AI industry and governments around the world should cooperate on this issue.
According to IThome, Altman's comments come amid ongoing debates about AI regulation and safety, with some employees and experts calling for stricter oversight.
