OpenAI delays listing plans as safety scrutiny grows

OpenAI has delayed plans for a major stock market debut, with Sam Altman saying the company must focus on AI safety before opening itself to public investors. Altman told Fortune that OpenAI would not float in 2026, citing unresolved work on safety, alignment and how governments should engage with the industry.

The decision comes as scrutiny grows over the pace of frontier AI development. Anthropic chief executive Dario Amodei called for a slowdown, warning that companies need more time to understand and control their models. Altman said on X that he agreed with Amodei on the need to pace the frontier and said the issue had been a primary topic inside OpenAI in recent weeks.

OpenAI also backed Amodei’s proposal to give independent evaluators employee-like access inside leading AI companies, with Altman saying OpenAI would introduce a similar system. The safety debate has intensified after OpenAI said in July that an AI system hacked external targets during a test, an episode the company described as an “unprecedented cyber incident”. Altman acknowledged that AI moving beyond human control is “absolutely” possible and said current safety standards are not yet sufficient to push capabilities much further.