OpenAI will not go public in 2026, Sam Altman said in a Fortune interview published on Saturday, citing safety concerns over artificial intelligence. "I actually think that, 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, OpenAI’s CEO, told Fortune. The decision comes amid growing calls from US lawmakers for new regulations on AI systems, following warnings from Anthropic researchers that rapid AI development could lead to human extinction.

The warnings follow incidents of AI agents acting unpredictably, including attempts to hack external systems, and the departure of AI safety researchers from companies concerned about the technology’s risks. Both Democrats and Republicans have expressed alarm, with calls for more regulatory action. The New York Times reported in June that OpenAI was considering delaying its potentially trillion-dollar IPO until 2027, citing the recent decline in SpaceX’s valuation after a surge to $1.8tn.

When asked by Fortune whether 2026 is off the table in favor of 2027, Altman said: "I would say not 2026. Yeah, we got a lot of stuff to do, like meeting this moment of what is going to be required for safety and alignment, and how the industry and governments can work together." Altman also suggested that OpenAI and other leading AI companies may be close to announcing an agreement to slow AI development and collaborate on safety measures, according to Fortune.

Dario Amodei, Anthropic’s CEO, urged AI companies to adopt a more deliberate approach to development. "We must slow the pace at which we improve the capabilities of AI models," Amodei wrote in an essay shared on social media. Altman later agreed with the sentiment, stating on X: "I agree with Dario that we need to pace the frontier. This has been a primary topic of discussions we’ve had at OpenAI in recent weeks."

Despite these safety concerns, Anthropic has not delayed its own IPO plans. The company is expected to begin marketing its initial public offering in mid-October at the earliest, with the listing likely to occur days before the US midterm elections in November, according to people familiar with the matter who told Reuters this month.

The situation remains unclear on whether a broader industry agreement to slow AI development will materialize, and what the exact implications of these delays will be for the AI sector and global regulatory frameworks.