OpenAI’s announcement caps off a race among artificial intelligence behemoths to garner investor interest. Claude-maker Anthropic filed to go public on June 1, while competitor SpaceX will debut on the Nasdaq on June 12. OpenAI’s announcement will test whether investors are willing to stomach yet another IPO in the industry amid fears of an AI bubble.“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,” the company stated. “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 San Francisco firm, which was founded in 2015, closed its most recent funding round in March at a $852 billion valuation.
The ChatGPT-maker’s short history has not been without controversy. Brother and sister Dario and Daniela Amodei departed OpenAI in December 2020 amid disputes over the company’s strategic direction and AI safety. The pair founded Anthropic in 2021.
“If you can make a company that people want to join, that engages in practices that people think are reasonable, while managing to maintain its position in the ecosystem, people will copy it,” Amodei explained on the Lex Fridman Podcast of his decision to leave OpenAI. “And the fact that you were doing it, especially the fact that you’re doing it better than they are, causes them to change their behavior in a much more compelling way than if they’re your boss and you’re arguing with them.”
