Sam Altman: OpenAI IPO before 2027 'ill-advised'

The interview lands amid a period of intense public concern about AI safety: the article describes September as a fever pitch, triggered by a former Anthropic researcher warning on X that the technology could destroy humanity and accusing major frontier labs of "gambling with our lives." Altman is presented as perhaps the person best positioned to address whether the people building AI can keep it under control, which gives his IPO comment extra weight.

Beyond the listing question, the article argues that AI is already reshaping talent, supply chains, and leadership itself. It points to a shift from the cautious, data-driven technocrat toward "founder mode," a hands-on, conviction-driven style it says is not limited to founder-CEOs. General Motors CEO Mary Barra is quoted as saying "Agility is a superpower now." The same issue profiles Nikesh Arora at Palo Alto Networks, David Cote at Vertiv, Andrew Forrest at Fortescue, and Travis Kalanick's new robotics venture, Atoms. Apple, meanwhile, faces the question of whether it can surprise us again in the AI era as John Ternus takes the reins from Tim Cook.

How all this shakes out likely hinges on whether the safety debate cools enough for Altman to reconsider an offering, and on whether founder mode proves a durable answer to the pressures AI is putting on leadership. The article does not resolve those questions, but it frames them as the ones that will define the next stretch for OpenAI and the companies around it.