Sam Altman says he has zero interest in being CEO of a publicly listed OpenAI
OpenAI was co-founded in 2015 by Altman and eleven others and has expanded rapidly since the launch of its AI chatbot ChatGPT in 2022.
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OpenAI chief executive Sam Altman has said he has no interest in running a publicly traded company, even as he acknowledged that the ChatGPT maker is likely to pursue an initial public offering to secure capital and manage its rapid growth.
Sam Altman made the comments while speaking on the Big Technology Podcast last month, where he said he had zero interest in being a public company CEO. He added that while he had mixed feelings about OpenAI becoming a listed company, there were practical reasons that could eventually push the artificial intelligence startup towards an IPO. He informed listeners that public markets participating in value creation was appealing in some ways, but also said remaining private had its advantages.
Altman stated that OpenAI would eventually need significant capital and would at some point cross shareholder limits, making a public listing more likely. He also said that if OpenAI were to go public, it would do so much later than most comparable companies, describing private ownership as a wonderful position for the company at present.
OpenAI was co-founded in 2015 by Altman and eleven others and has expanded rapidly since the launch of its AI chatbot ChatGPT in 2022. The chatbot now has around 800 million weekly users, while the company has signed deals worth about $1 trillion with major technology firms including Oracle, Nvidia and AMD.
There are growing indications that OpenAI is preparing for a public listing. Reuters reported in October that the company was considering filing with securities regulators as early as the second half of 2026. When asked earlier this year on a podcast whether OpenAI would go public next year, Altman said he did not know.
Recent reports have claimed that OpenAI is taking early steps towards an IPO, with the company holding preliminary discussions and being valued at about $830 billion. A separate Reuters report in October 2025 cited three sources as saying that OpenAI’s valuation could be as high as $1 trillion.
