What changed: Altman publicly confirmed for the first time that OpenAI will not go public in 2026.
OpenAI CEO Sam Altman gave the first on-record confirmation that his company will not go public in 2026, speaking exclusively to Fortune Editor-in-Chief Alyson Shontell. '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 said. He emphasized the need to address AI safety and alignment issues first, signaling that an IPO could come in 2027 or later at the earliest.
Behind Altman's remarks lies a deepening wave of safety anxiety across the industry. AI researcher Jacob Coxon, who had worked at both OpenAI and Anthropic, resigned from Anthropic citing safety concerns. 'The people building AI earnestly believe that it could kill us all by the end of the decade,' Coxon wrote on X. His post was followed by broader calls to slow the race toward AI development.
Financial results, however, paint a different picture. OpenAI CFO Sarah Friar disclosed at the Goldman Sachs Communacopia + Technology Conference that enterprise revenue grew 32% from June to July, outpacing the 20% growth in overall annualized revenue during the same period. The company also unveiled a new version of ChatGPT tailored to large banks and financial firms, powered by its GPT-6 Astra model.
On the security front, Anthropic's Threat Intelligence team announced that it had identified and disrupted operations in which threat actors attempted to use Claude for malicious purposes. Microsoft Chairman and CEO Satya Nadella offered his own framing: 'Any pursuit of superintelligence has to be grounded in the core principle that if the AI we build is not helping humanity and under human control, it's not worth pursuing.'
Key facts
- Altman gave Fortune the first on-record confirmation that OpenAI will not hold an IPO in 2026.
- The company had confidentially filed for a potential IPO in June 2026; the debut has been pushed to 2027 or later.
- AI researcher Jacob Coxon, who had worked at both OpenAI and Anthropic, resigned from Anthropic citing safety concerns.
- OpenAI CFO Sarah Friar disclosed that enterprise revenue grew 32% from June to July.
- Anthropic's Threat Intelligence team identified and disrupted operations in which threat actors tried to use Claude for malicious activity.
Why it matters
Safety concerns have moved beyond purely technical territory and are now directly shaping the corporate strategy of the world's most valuable AI company.
Watch next: How Anthropic's path to becoming a public company evolves, and whether safety-focused governance debates produce concrete industry-wide policy responses.
Source date: 2026-09-14T17:20:03.908Z · Verification confidence: 92/100
