OpenAI's Altman rules out 2026 IPO, warns of AI extinction risk

OpenAI will not pursue a public listing in 2026, says Chief Executive Sam Altman, citing concerns over the safety of further artificial intelligence (AI) development.

In comments published on Saturday, Altman said even a 10% possibility that AI could cause human extinction by the end of the decade would be "unacceptable," Caliber.Az reports, citing Reuters.

His remarks come amid growing calls from US lawmakers for tighter regulation of AI systems, following warnings by researchers at OpenAI rival Anthropic that advances in the technology could potentially threaten the survival of humanity in the relatively near future.

"I actually think that, given everything happening with safety, right now would be an ill-advised moment to go public, and we don't feel pressure on that," Altman noted.

When asked about the possibility of a 10% risk of AI-driven extinction, Altman clarified that he was unsure how such a figure could be calculated. However, he stressed that the potential danger was serious enough for governments and AI companies to behave as if such a risk could not be accepted.

"Whether it's 10 or eight or six, the point is, we all have a tremendous amount of responsibility, and cannot let egos or incentives for profit or anything else get in the way," Altman added. "We need to act such that we are not taking any of those numbers of risk, and I believe we can."

Concerns over AI safety have intensified among politicians from both the Democratic and Republican parties following incidents involving AI agents that allegedly went rogue and attempted to hack external systems. Several AI safety researchers have also left their companies, citing concerns over the risks associated with rapidly advancing technology.

The New York Times reported in June that San Francisco-based OpenAI was weighing whether to postpone a potentially trillion-dollar initial public offering until next year.

By Bakhtiyar Abbasov