‘Not well-suited to be the CEO of a public company’: OpenAI’s Sam Altman

OpenAI chief executive Sam Altman said on Friday that he does not see himself as “well-suited” to lead a publicly listed company.

According to a Bloomberg report, the fast-growing artificial intelligence company has floated the idea of spending “trillions” on computing infrastructure, a plan that could eventually involve a public listing. Altman, however, declined to provide a timeline.

“I do think we have to go public someday, probably,” he said, while adding that he is not ideally placed to be the CEO of a public company.


Altman had already dismissed the possibility of an imminent IPO, calling it “not a priority” as OpenAI continues to confront operational challenges and ramp up investments in computing power and research.

Not just an AI company

Altman described OpenAI as a mix of four entities: a consumer technology company, a large-scale infrastructure player, a research lab, and a venture creator with projects such as hardware devices.

He also revealed plans to invest in a brain-computer interface company and mused about a device that could enable him to think and have ChatGPT respond directly.

Altman reiterated on August 8 that the AI talent market is “the most intense” he has seen in his career. In July, OpenAI named Meta executive Fidji Simo as its incoming CEO of applications. In a note to employees she said AI would generate more opportunities than any technology in history.

Earlier this month, OpenAI granted retention bonuses to about a third of its nearly 1,000 employees, with payouts ranging from hundreds of thousands to several million dollars for technical and engineering talent.

The company has also bolstered its scaling team with high-profile hires, including former Tesla VP of software engineering David Lau; Uday Ruddarraju, former head of infrastructure at xAI and X; Mike Dalton, also from xAI; and Angela Fan, an AI researcher from Meta.

Valuation soars

On August 16, Bloomberg reported that current and former employees are in talks to sell about $6 billion worth of stock to investors including Thrive Capital, SoftBank Group, and Dragoneer Investment Group. The deal would value OpenAI at $500 billion.

Also read: From non-profit to $500 billion: Sam Altman’s OpenAI dizzying valuation rise