OpenAI CEO Sam Altman has stated that OpenAI will not hold an initial public offering (IPO) in 2026, citing concerns over artificial intelligence (AI) safety.

Altman made the remarks in an interview with U.S. business magazine Fortune released on the 12th local time.

"Given what's happening on the safety side, this is an ill-advised moment to go public," he said, adding, "We don't feel pressure to do this."

When asked if he was shelving the 2026 IPO plans and postponing them to 2027, Altman replied, "It's not going to be 2026."

"There is a lot of work to do, such as solving the tasks necessary for safety and alignment and figuring out how the industry and governments will cooperate," he added.

OpenAI had previously submitted a confidential IPO application to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) last June and has been proceeding with listing procedures.

Altman said, "I think taking a roughly 10 percent chance that everyone dies by the end of 2030 is unacceptable."

"At this very moment, we are entering a new era," he emphasized, adding, "Just as we stepped into different eras in the past, we likely need to act differently to ensure that ideas benefit all of humanity and that no one bears risks commensurate with them."

His remarks came at a time when concerns over AI safety are mounting.

On this day, Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei also warned of the potential risks of AI via a blog post, urging that the pace of development be slowed down.

Both Altman and xAI co-founder Elon Musk expressed support for Amodei's views.

It is a rare alignment of opinions within the AI industry.

Fortune reported that Altman also hinted that OpenAI and other major AI companies are close to announcing an agreement to slow down AI development and jointly respond to safety risks.

"The core principle we must all agree on is that we must not take actions that create the risk of losing future control to AI," he said.

(Photo: Yonhap News)