Altman says OpenAI will not go public in 2026, citing safety concerns

Published September 12, 2026 10:39pm ET



OpenAI CEO Sam Altman said in an interview released on Saturday the artificial intelligence company will not go public until at least 2027 as the industry coalesces around calls for safety measures.

While speaking with Fortune’s Alyson Shontell, Altman said the timeline for OpenAI going public has been pushed back amid concerns about AI’s rapid development and the potential loss of control over the technology. Altman’s comments come after a week in which two Anthropic employees cited safety concerns as reasons for leaving the company. OpenAI also said on Friday another hacking incident occurred in May that preceded the now-infamous Hugging Face event that sparked these cybersecurity concerns in July.

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