OpenAI files confidential IPO as it outlines next phase of AI growth

OpenAI has filed confidentially for an initial public offering (IPO), marking a significant milestone for the artificial intelligence company as it enters what its leaders describe as the "third phase" of its evolution.

In a brief announcement, OpenAI said it had recently submitted a confidential draft registration statement on Form S-1 to the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

"We expect it to leak so we're just announcing it," the company said, adding that it has not yet decided on the timing of a potential public offering.

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"It may be a while because there are things we want to do that are likely easier as a private company. But it's a complicated set of tradeoffs and this gives us the option to go public sooner if that ends up being best," it added.

The filing does not guarantee an IPO and OpenAI said any future securities offering would be conducted in accordance with US securities regulations.

The announcement came alongside a blog post by CEO Sam Altman and chief scientist Jakub Pachocki outlining OpenAI's long-term ambitions for artificial intelligence and the company's next stage of growth.

In the post, Altman and Pachocki compared AI's potential impact to the widespread adoption of electricity, arguing that AI should become broadly accessible rather than concentrated among a small number of institutions.

"A good AI future cannot be one where a small number of institutions control most of the capability and most of the upside," wrote Altman and Pachocki. 

According to the pair, OpenAI is now entering its "third phase" after first operating as a research organisation and later becoming a product company through the commercialisation of technologies such as ChatGPT.

"The economy is beginning to reshape around AI. The central question now is how to make advanced AI abundant, affordable, safe, useful, and easy enough for every person and organisation to benefit from it," they said.

The company outlined three primary goals for the coming years: building an automated AI researcher capable of accelerating scientific discovery, driving economic growth through AI-powered productivity gains, and providing every person on Earth with access to what it described as a "personal AGI".

OpenAI also revealed an internal expectation that AI systems could perform a significant share of the company's research work alongside human researchers by March 2028. At the same time, Altman and Pachocki stressed that human oversight would remain essential as AI capabilities advance.

"Entirely automating everything is not the future we want. It would be unfulfilling, and it would be dangerous," they wrote.

The pair also renewed calls for international coordination on frontier AI development, arguing that global safety standards and cooperation would become increasingly important as more powerful systems emerge.

The move comes shortly after Anthropic confidentially submitted a draft registration statement for a proposed IPO to the SEC. In a brief announcement last week, the AI company said the filing would give it the option to go public once the regulator completes its review process.

Anthropic said the proposed offering remains subject to market conditions and other factors. The company added that the number of shares to be offered and the pricing of the IPO have yet to be determined.

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