OpenAI CEO Altman says no IPO in 2026, cites 10% chance AI causes human extinction before 2030

On September 12, 2026, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman told Fortune in an exclusive interview that the company would not pursue an initial public offering this year, arguing that the timing is wrong while unresolved AI safety questions remain and that OpenAI will wait until both the business and the wider society are ready. Altman went further: "If by the end of 2030 there is roughly a 10 percent chance that AI could end humanity, we should not accept that risk." He said the industry is entering a new era and that, as in past transitions, "we need to act differently to make sure that AI benefits all of humanity while ensuring no one bears even close to that level of risk." The interview came a day after Altman, Anthropic founder Dario Amodei, and xAI founder Elon Musk posted on X in unusually aligned terms about the need to slow AI development. Musk replied to Amodei with "Dario is right", while Altman said OpenAI would also introduce independent evaluators with employee-level access. Altman added that OpenAI and other leading AI companies may be close to agreeing on a coordinated slowdown and joint safety practices, though no specific arrangements have been disclosed. OpenAI filed confidentially for an IPO in June, but the company has stressed that no listing date has been set. Anthropic is also preparing an IPO that could exceed SpaceX's record. The interview lands in the same week that Anthropic researcher Jacob Coxon publicly resigned, warning that AI could "kill us all by the end of the decade", and that another current Anthropic employee posted on social media that the probability of that outcome within ten years is "above 10 percent".