Sam Altman warns that OpenAI going public in 2026 may not be a wise move.

OpenAI’s CEO, Sam Altman, has made it clear that an IPO is off the table for 2026. In a recent interview, he covered a range of topics, including the recent Hugging Face hacking incident, the concept of recursive self-improvement, and the potential for creating an AI that could surpass human control. Altman acknowledged that such a scenario is “absolutely” possible but emphasized the importance of taking preventive measures, even if it means halting training. He stated, “there are risks we should not be able to incur on behalf of humanity.”

He further elaborated, “We’re not rushing into an IPO. Given everything happening with safety, this would be an ill-advised moment to go public. We don’t feel pressure on that. We’ve said for a long time, we’ll do it when we’re ready… I would say not 2026. We’ve got a lot of stuff to do.”