OpenAI CEO Sam Altman disclosed to employees via Slack that the company anticipates initiating an Initial Public Offering (IPO) within the next year, having previously submitted a prospectus to preserve the possibility of an earlier listing. If OpenAI delays its IPO until 2027, it would come as a surprise to many, especially considering that its competitor, Anthropic, is expected to go public in the coming weeks. Previous reports suggested that OpenAI might conduct an IPO as early as September this year. Altman has reasons to wait, as Anthropic has demonstrated stronger growth metrics, while OpenAI is still heavily investing funds, and going public at this juncture could adversely affect its valuation. Altman explained the delay in going public by stating that progress in self-improving AI might influence the IPO timing, as technological and market conditions could evolve in unexpected ways, and there may be compelling reasons to remain a private company during this period. However, the significant capital requirements for computing infrastructure could accelerate the IPO process. Additionally, Altman announced an upcoming employee stock sale program, priced at $687.69 per share. Meanwhile, OpenAI is developing a new model codenamed 5.6, with research lead Jakub Pachocki indicating that it will represent a significant upgrade compared to GPT-5.5, with an expected release possibly in June. Anthropic, on the other hand, has already set a high industry benchmark with its Fable and Mythos 5 models.