Altman says OpenAI won't go public in 2026

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman has confirmed the company will not go public in 2026, despite having already filed confidentially for an initial public offering. Speaking in a recent interview with Fortune editor-in-chief Alyson Shontell, Altman addressed the topic against the backdrop of the OpenAI-HuggingFace hack and wider debates over AI safety.

Shontell asked whether OpenAI still feels pressure to move quickly because of its IPO ambitions. Altman rejected that framing, saying the company is not rushing into going public. He argued that, given everything currently unfolding around safety, this would be an ill-advised time to list shares.

Timing tied to readiness, not a deadline

Instead of a fixed timeline, Altman said OpenAI will go public once the business itself is ready and once society's relationship with the technology has reached an appropriate point. Pressed directly on whether this rules out a 2026 listing, Altman confirmed it does, adding that the company still has considerable work ahead of it.

The comments align with earlier reporting from The New York Times in June, which said that although OpenAI had already brought on bankers and lawyers with an eye toward going public in the third or fourth quarter of 2026, the company was increasingly leaning toward pushing the listing to 2027. That reporting pointed to volatility in tech stocks and OpenAI's own financial pressures as contributing factors.