OpenAI Confidentially Files for US IPO

ChatGPT creator OpenAI has confidentially filed for an initial public offering in the US, becoming the third major AI company this year to set up plans for a Wall Street debut.

OpenAI posted to X on Monday that it filed confidential paperwork with the US Securities and Exchange Commission, but had not decided when it would launch to the public.

“We expect it to leak so we’re just announcing it,” the company wrote. “We have not decided on timing yet; it may be a while because there are things we want to do that are likely easier as a private company.”

It comes as rival Anthropic announced on June 1 that it was pursuing an IPO, while SpaceX, Elon Musk’s rocket-building company that owns Grok creator xAI, is expected to debut in the US on Friday.

The last 12 months have seen a number of blockbuster IPOs amid a tech investment boom. Multiple crypto companies, such as stablecoin issuer Circle and trading platforms eToro and Bullish, raked in billions of dollars after going public last year. 

In a blog post accompanying OpenAI’s announcement, company co-founder and CEO Sam Altman and chief scientist Jakub Pachocki said one of OpenAI’s main goals is to build an AI system that can research AI technology to improve itself.

Source: Sam Altman

Anthropic said on Thursday that AI development has advanced to the point that AI could soon build, train and improve itself without human input, and said development should slow until the risks are known.

Altman and Pachocki said the economy “is beginning to reshape around AI,” and questioned how to make “advanced AI abundant, affordable, safe, useful, and easy enough for every person and organization to benefit from it.”

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“A good AI future cannot be one where a small number of institutions control most of the capability and most of the upside,” they wrote. “It should be a future where many people, companies, communities, and countries can build, benefit, and hold power.”

Companies have cited that productivity gains from AI have allowed them to cut down on staffing, and nearly 117,000 tech employees have been laid off so far this year, according to layoffs.fyi.

Crypto companies have cut more than 5,000 jobs so far this year, with many also citing increased efficiencies from AI as a reason for the layoffs. Block Inc. undertook the biggest round of layoffs by a crypto company so far in 2026, cutting 4,000 staff in February in an AI-driven cutback.

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