Artificial intelligence (A.I.) startup company OpenAI has ruled out holding its highly anticipated initial public offering (IPO) this year.
In a media interview, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman said that his company will not go public this year as planned, citing growing concerns about A.I. safety.
In the interview, Altman said that an IPO now would be “ill-advised.” The decision pushes back the timing of one of the most anticipated IPOs in Wall Street’s history until at least 2027.
As recently as August of this year, OpenAI Chief Financial Officer (CFO) Sarah Friar said the company could go public by year’s end.
Altman’s comments came shortly after Dario Amodei, CEO of rival A.I. firm Anthropic, called for a slowdown in developing the technology.
Amodei published an essay over the weekend in which he urges the A.I. industry to slow the pace of model development or risk losing control over the technology.
However, the comments from Amodei come as Anthropic prepares for an IPO that could take place as early as this October and value the company at $2 trillion U.S.
Anthropic’s IPO is widely expected to be the biggest ever for a U.S. company.
The delay in OpenAI’s IPO also comes as the company is reported to face a number of financial difficulties and turnover of senior executives.
Leaked audited financial documents showed that OpenAI is on track to lose about $14 billion U.S. this year as its spending continues to accelerate.
OpenAI has lost at least 12 senior executives in recent months, including its chief operating officer and chief revenue officer.
The delayed IPO by OpenAI also comes amid a growing public backlash to the technology’s development and the proliferation of energy-hungry data centres.
Tech Insider
