Altman says 2026 IPO would be a mistake, OpenAI now targeting 2027

Sam Altman tells Fortune editor-in-chief Alyson Shontell that rushing to the public markets this year would be an error, even though the company has already filed confidentially for an initial public offering. "We're not in a rush to go public," he said, adding that the timing simply isn't right given recent safety events.

The comments come amid the HuggingFace breach and intensifying public debate over AI safety — pressure that has renewed questions about whether IPO ambitions were pushing the company to move too fast. Altman stressed the offering will happen only when the business is ready and when the company feels the technology has reached sufficient social maturity.

Pressed directly on whether that rules out 2026, Altman replied: "I would say not 2026, yes. We have a lot of things to do." The statement is more definitive than any previous hint and contradicts earlier reports targeting the third or fourth quarter.

The New York Times reported in June that OpenAI had hired bankers and lawyers with the stated goal of listing in the second half of 2026, though it was already leaning toward 2027 because of tech-stock volatility and its own financial challenges. The gap between the declared plan and the reality on the ground has now sharpened.

OpenAI occupies a unique position: a leading AI company that has yet to go public, with a business model still taking shape and massive R&D outlays. The delay reflects an acknowledgment that public markets demand stability and clear forecasts — two things that are hard to deliver when the technology itself is still in a phase of rapid change and intense public scrutiny.

For now, the company continues to raise private capital and expand its commercial operations. But the decision to postpone the IPO signals a clear order of priorities: organizational maturity and product safety come before investor pressure for liquidity. That doesn't mean the offering is off the table — only that it will wait for the moment when the numbers and the narrative align.