# OpenAI files confidential IPO but delays 2026 offering due to safety concerns

> OpenAI has confidentially filed for an initial public offering but will not actually go public in 2026, with Sam Altman calling it an ill-advised moment given everything happening around AI safety. TechCrunch reports the filing keeps the option open while the company holds off on pulling the trigger. The reasoning is unusual for a company of this profile. Altman tied the delay explicitly to safety concerns, including open questions about recursive self-improvement and the possibility of building systems that slip beyond human control, rather than to market conditions or valuation. It is rare to hear a chief executive cite existential caution as a reason to slow down a payday. The contrast with Anthropic is sharp. Its rival is lining up what could be a record-breaking IPO near a 2 trillion dollar valuation, reportedly with Nvidia as an anchor investor. That two of the field's leaders are taking opposite paths to the public markets, in the same week both preached slowing down, captures how unsettled the economics and the ethics of frontier AI still are.

_Section: [AI Funding Tracker](https://www.wortins.com/funding) · Source: TechCrunch · Published Sunday, September 13, 2026_

## Wortins' read

OpenAI has confidentially filed for an initial public offering but will not actually go public in 2026, with Sam Altman calling it an ill-advised moment given everything happening around AI safety. TechCrunch reports the filing keeps the option open while the company holds off on pulling the trigger. The reasoning is unusual for a company of this profile. Altman tied the delay explicitly to safety concerns, including open questions about recursive self-improvement and the possibility of building systems that slip beyond human control, rather than to market conditions or valuation. It is rare to hear a chief executive cite existential caution as a reason to slow down a payday. The contrast with Anthropic is sharp. Its rival is lining up what could be a record-breaking IPO near a 2 trillion dollar valuation, reportedly with Nvidia as an anchor investor. That two of the field's leaders are taking opposite paths to the public markets, in the same week both preached slowing down, captures how unsettled the economics and the ethics of frontier AI still are.

## Source

[Read the full story at TechCrunch](https://techcrunch.com/2026/09/12/openais-sam-altman-says-it-would-be-ill-advised-to-go-public-in-2026/)

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