Why OpenAI Is Waiting to Sell Stock to the Public
OpenAI will not let the public buy its stock until it can clearly say its AI models are safe, chief executive Sam Altman said Tuesday. He set no date.
He said a listing in 2026 is unlikely. He also said waiting too long to go public would be bad for the world. The Verge
He spoke in a question session with reporters after his main talk at DevDay.
Altman gave that talk at the yearly DevDay event in San Francisco, California, on September 29, 2026, according to CNBC. He was due to start at 10 a.m. Pacific Time on Tuesday. The event covered new models, tools and agents, with product announcements and sessions for developers.
He has warned before. Altman had called a listing now an "ill-advised moment" over safety concerns, as reported by Fortune. Microsoft AI chief executive Mustafa Suleyman later said Altman had told Fortune's Alyson Shontell that OpenAI would probably delay its IPO.
Paperwork has started. OpenAI confirmed it sent a confidential draft S-1, the form for a U.S. stock listing, to the SEC, with no date set for next steps, according to the company. It is like filling out forms early without picking a moving day.
DevDay began with protests, flyers and chants, as reported by The Verge. Protesters chanted "Sam Altman, get off it, put people over profit." The protest did not change the program.
The broader context here is the choice Altman described. Safety comes first. Timing comes second. But a very long wait has costs too.
In my view, that matters for small businesses and app makers using OpenAI. While private, OpenAI can pause a model or change access without public-company reporting rules. That can keep plans steady, with less public insight into decisions.
Worth flagging for the future, a later listing could let more people own a piece of the company. If OpenAI writes clear safety notes before listing, other builders could reuse them to explain risks and limits to users. That would be a practical help.
