Company OpenAI will not conduct an initial public offering in 2026. This was announced by Chief Executive Sam Altman in an interview with Fortune, published on September 13.

"Given everything happening with safety, now would be an unfortunate time to go public, and we don't feel pressure about it," he said.

The statement effectively postpones any potential listing to at least 2027.

What the company prioritizes

According to Altman, more urgent tasks lie ahead: safety requirements and model consistency, as well as developing collaboration mechanisms between industry and governments. These areas, he says, are more important than preparing for a public listing.

Support for independent oversight

The interview was released the same day Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei published an essay calling for deliberate slowing of advanced AI system development.

Altman responded publicly within hours, agreeing that the industry needs to set development pace so society can adapt.

He also supported one of three specific proposals: placing independent evaluators within labs with employee-level access. "Committing to independent evaluators with access comparable to employees is a great idea, and we will do the same," he wrote.

Anthropic had previously made a similar commitment.

Other essay proposals

  • coordination among companies from democratic nations around common safety standards;
  • negotiations between governments, including rivals, on restrictions for the most dangerous AI capabilities.

Elon Musk, whose company xAI develops its own model, publicly supported the position.

Scale of internal support

Over 1,300 employees from leading AI companies, including senior OpenAI staff, backed the initiative proposing development slowdown mechanisms when necessary.

The depth of support across competing organizations shows how widely safety issues have extended beyond a narrow circle of researchers.

What this means for markets

OpenAI has been one of the most anticipated IPO candidates in the technology sector for years. The decision to remain private is a notable departure from prior expectations.

For investors, it is another example that IPO timelines for major tech companies are determined not only by market conditions. Also telling is the comparison: shares of such issuers remain unavailable to public investors while companies find off-market funding sources.

This material is for informational purposes and does not constitute investment advice.