OpenAI chief executive Sam Altman has ruled out a stock market listing this year, telling Fortune magazine it would be an "ill-advised moment to go public" as debate over the dangers of advanced artificial intelligence intensifies. The decision pushes back a heavily anticipated IPO that analysts expected to raise tens of billions of dollars at an enormous valuation.
Altman also cast doubt on a 2026 debut. Asked whether he could imagine forgoing a listing next year, he replied: "I would say not 2026."
The delay comes as safety concerns gain traction across the industry. Recent test runs have shown AI software acting autonomously to carry out hacking attacks. The alarm grew louder when a researcher at AI firm Anthropic resigned with a stark warning that for-profit AI leaders were "gambling with our lives."
Anthropic researcher puts a number on existential risk
Evan Hubinger, an Anthropic researcher partly responsible for keeping AI aligned with human interests, confirmed the concerns raised by departing colleague Jacob Coxon. Hubinger wrote on X that he personally believed the risk of AI killing humanity within the next decade stood at more than 10%.
That figure, coming from an insider at a company building frontier AI systems, adds a concrete dimension to the debate that often revolves around abstract warnings. For investors weighing a potential OpenAI stake, it introduces a risk factor that cannot be priced with traditional models.
Data centre backlash adds another layer of friction
In the United States, a growing movement opposes construction of the massive data centres that AI companies like OpenAI need to expand. Local communities are pushing back on land use, energy consumption, and environmental impact, creating permitting hurdles that could slow growth even before any public listing materializes.
The convergence of safety fears, insider warnings, and infrastructure resistance shapes the environment Altman cited when calling the current moment "ill-advised" for an IPO. OpenAI has been building toward a listing for some time, and the delay signals that leadership sees too much regulatory and reputational uncertainty to command the valuation the company wants.
Why this matters for finance professionals
An OpenAI IPO has been one of the most anticipated tech listings since the generative AI boom began. Its indefinite delay removes a near-term liquidity event that investors, bankers, and exchanges had factored into 2025 and 2026 calendars. The explicit 10%-plus existential risk estimate from an industry insider also introduces a new variable into any discounted cash flow model for AI companies - one that traditional equity research has no standard way to quantify. As AI firms explore OpenAI Courses and other revenue streams to reduce reliance on capital markets, finance teams should track how private valuations adjust when a clear path to public markets disappears. Understanding the mechanics behind systems like ChatGPT through Generative AI and LLM training also helps analysts separate genuine risk signals from noise when assessing companies in this sector.
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