OpenAI Files for Potential Public Listing Amid AI Market Competition

OpenAI, the maker of ChatGPT, has filed preliminary paperwork to become a publicly traded company. This filing positions OpenAI among a leading trio of artificial intelligence firms preparing for Wall Street debuts. The San Francisco-based company announced Monday that confidential documents have been filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

“We expect it to leak so we’re just announcing it,” the company stated. “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. But it’s a complicated set of tradeoffs and this gives us the option to go public sooner if that ends up being best.”

This move follows the actions of Anthropic, which revealed on June 1 its intentions to launch an initial public offering (IPO). Both firms are following SpaceX, led by Elon Musk, which has begun an IPO roadshow highlighting its status as an AI-focused space company. OpenAI CEO Sam Altman initially suggested the possibility of an IPO last fall, noting it as the “most likely path” due to the company’s size and need for substantial capital.

Founded in 2015 as a nonprofit devoted to developing AI for public benefit, OpenAI’s value has soared to $852 billion. The filing occurs during a “precarious moment” as competition intensifies with rivals Google and Anthropic, commented Emarketer analyst Nate Elliott.

“But OpenAI doesn’t have a lot of other places to look for the enormous capital required to support its costs,” Elliott said.

The company took a crucial step last year by restructuring itself into a public benefit corporation while still technically controlled by a nonprofit. OpenAI also overcame a legal challenge from Musk, an OpenAI co-founder, who attempted to remove Altman and revert OpenAI back to a nonprofit structure. The case was dismissed by a judge after a federal jury deemed Musk’s lawsuit untimely.

OpenAI has not yet disclosed its earnings or projected when it might turn a profit. The company, similar to Anthropic and SpaceX, is experiencing high expenses due to its extensive venture build-out. Fierce competition persists from Anthropic’s chatbot Claude and Google’s AI assistant Gemini.

In an interview in April, OpenAI’s CFO, Sarah Friar, declined to specify a timeline for the IPO but affirmed that the company was operating with “the good hygiene of a public company,” which includes measuring revenue in a manner required by the SEC for publicly traded firms.

“I want us to be ready,” Friar told The Associated Press. “I think it’s good to be able to tap the public markets. They’re much bigger than the private markets.” She highlighted OpenAI’s current valuation, placing it among the top 15 companies in the S&P 500, and remarked on the “credentializing moment of being a public company.”

In a separate statement, Altman outlined three major goals for OpenAI: developing an automated AI researcher, stimulating economic growth, and providing global access to personal AGI—artificial general intelligence that could perform tasks beyond human capacity.

Altman emphasized OpenAI’s transition from AI research and product development to “broad distribution of power” amid the economy’s adaptation to AI technology.

“We are working to ensure the gains are widely shared. Everyone should have an opportunity for a meaningful share in the prosperity AI creates,” Altman said.

These remarks follow Altman’s discussions with Sen. Bernie Sanders regarding a proposal for public ownership stakes in AI firms and comments from President Donald Trump supporting such public stakeholder involvement.

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AP Technology Writer Kaitlyn Huamani contributed to this report.