OpenAI’s Sam Altman says it would be ‘ill-advised’ to go public in 2026

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OpenAI CEO Sam Altman told Fortune editor-in-chief Alyson Shontell that a 2026 IPO would be 'ill-advised,' linking the delay directly to safety concerns rather than purely market conditions. He said the company will go public 'when we're ready, which is when the business is ready, when we feel ready from what the moment is like in society with this technology.'\n\nThe New York Times reported in June that OpenAI had hired bankers and lawyers targeting Q3 or Q4 2026, but had been leaning toward 2027 due to tech stock volatility and financial challenges. Altman's Fortune interview firms up that signal: 2026 is officially off the table.\n\nWhat's notable is the framing. Altman didn't point to market conditions alone — he named the OpenAI-HuggingFace hack and broader AI safety discourse as factors. Whether this reflects genuine governance-first thinking or is positioning ahead of regulatory scrutiny is unclear from the interview. The confidential IPO filing remains in place, keeping the 2027 path intact.\n\nFor enterprises negotiating OpenAI contracts or pricing, the delayed IPO means the company remains under the pressure of private capital — which typically means continuing to push revenue growth aggressively.