Altman: OpenAI IPO pushed past 2026 on safety

The delay follows a turbulent stretch of public debate on AI safety. Researcher Jacob Coxon, who had also worked at OpenAI, resigned from Anthropic with a public message that AI makers are moving quickly and irresponsibly, and Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei spoke out over the weekend. Altman tied OpenAI's go-public ambitions directly to that climate, saying the company will list when the business and the company are ready for "what the moment is like in society with this technology." He also suggested that AI's best-known figures, from Amodei to Hassabis, will likely gather to discuss safety at some point, though he declined to pre-announce those private discussions.

The article notes that investors have poured more than $180 billion into OpenAI over the years, leaving a much-anticipated exit far on the horizon. It also raises its own tension: the safety fears are a worthwhile and valid conversation, the piece argues, yet it is easier to discuss apocalyptic fears of the future than concerns of the present — and there is a lot of money on the table. The outcome, as the article puts it, hinges on action rather than conversation, and what that action looks like remains unclear.