OpenAI is officially going public. The AI giant announced on Monday that it filed for an IPO with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. “We expect it to leak so we’re just announcing it,” OpenAI said in a statement. “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.” The filing is so far confidential, which means that the masses won’t be able to view the highly coveted details of OpenAI’s financials and its murky road to profitability until the SEC makes it public. Companies tend to prefer confidential filings because it helps them seek regulatory approval before presenting financial information to public scrutiny, a wise move considering that OpenAI already has an abundance of critical eyes on itself. OpenAI is currently valued at $852 billion, and reports claim executives are targeting a stock market valuation of up to $1 trillion
OpenAI was founded in 2015 as a non-profit AI lab. Ten years later, in late 2025, the former non-profit finalized its recapitalization process to become a for-profit public benefit corporation. OpenAI is credited with kickstarting the AI hype cycle by releasing ChatGPT in 2022.
