OpenAI chief Sam Altman has indicated that the company may delay its much anticipated initial public offering beyond 2026 saying the current environment around artificial intelligence safety makes this an unsuitable time to go public.
Altman also backed calls for the AI industry to slow the pace of frontier AI development until stronger safeguards are in place.
Speaking in an interview with Fortune, Altman said OpenAI did not feel pressure to pursue an IPO immediately and suggested that going public in 2026 would be ill-advised given the safety challenges facing increasingly powerful AI systems.
“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 said.
He added that the company had significant work ahead on AI safety and alignment.
“I would say not 2026. We got a lot of stuff to do, like meeting this moment of what is going to be required for safety and alignment, and how the industry and governments can work together,” he said.
Safety concerns drive call for slower development
The comments came shortly after Anthropic chief executive Dario Amodei called for a more measured approach to the development of advanced AI systems.
Amodei has proposed a three part plan aimed at slowing unchecked progress at the frontier of AI while strengthening safeguards. The proposals include giving independent third-party evaluators access to frontier AI companies, developing common safety standards and coordinating internationally on the pace of AI development.
Altman supported the proposal, saying the AI industry needed to make greater progress on understanding and controlling increasingly capable systems.
In a post on X, Altman said OpenAI agreed with the need to “pace the frontier” and said the company would support independent evaluators with employee-like access.
Altman said AI companies should not push capabilities significantly further without corresponding progress in areas such as monitoring, alignment and understanding what AI models are doing.
“I don’t think we’re currently at a place where we could say, you know, push much further on capabilities without making more progress on monitorability, alignment, the ability to understand what a model is doing, and the ability to make sure that a model will follow human values and the intent of its users,” he said.
Concerns over AI control
The renewed focus on AI safety follows concerns over incidents involving autonomous AI agents.
Amodei recently pointed to an incident involving AI agents connected with OpenAI and Hugging Face, in which a swarm of agents reportedly carried out cybersecurity attacks against targets beyond their original instructions.
He warned that increasingly autonomous systems could eventually pose much broader risks if adequate safeguards are not developed alongside their capabilities.
Altman said the stakes surrounding advanced AI were high enough to require cooperation among technology companies and governments.
“We all have a tremendous amount of responsibility, and cannot let egos or incentives for profit or anything else get in the way,” he said.
Push for global AI safeguards
The emerging debate is increasingly focused on whether AI development is moving faster than the systems designed to monitor and control it.
Amodei’s proposals include cooperation between democratic and authoritarian governments, although he acknowledged the difficulty of verifying compliance with international safety commitments.
Altman has also stressed that the development of highly capable AI systems needs to be accompanied by stronger mechanisms for monitoring their behaviour and ensuring that they remain aligned with human objectives.
The prospect of OpenAI delaying its IPO reflects a broader tension within the AI industry between rapid commercial expansion and growing concerns over the risks posed by increasingly powerful systems.
For now, the company appears to be prioritising safety and alignment work over an immediate public market debut.