OpenAI files confidential IPO papers with SEC as ChatGPT maker reveals three main goals

Artificial intelligence (AI) giant OpenAI has officially started the initial public offering process as it has filed confidential IPO papers with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), according to a written statement.

This development comes at a time when its rival Anthropic is also moving forward with the public issue. Elon Musk's space and AI company SpaceX could also start trading as soon as this week.

"We recently submitted a confidential S-1. We expect it to leak so we’re just announcing it," the ChatGPT maker 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."

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman had first publicly talked about the company's IPO last fall, calling it the "most likely path" given the firm's size and need for huge amounts of cash to work on technology.

OpenAI started the AI boom in 2022 with the launch of its chatbot, ChatGPT. It is among the most valuable companies in the world.

In a separate post on Monday, Altman said that the company has three main goals.

• The first goal is to make an automated AI researcher that can accelerate and increasingly automate the research process itself. "Our internal belief is that by March of 2028 we may have a significant fraction of our research being done by AI systems in tandem with our own researchers," he said.
• The second goal is to accelerate the economy by boosting scientific progress, productivity and economic growth, while making certain that gains are widely shared.
• The third goal, according to a blog by Altman and OpenAI's chief scientist Jakub Pachocki, is to give everyone on Earth a personal artificial general intelligence.

The blog said that the company has entered "the third phase of OpenAI". The first phase was doing research regarding AGI. The second phase began when the research became relevant to the world and OpenAI became a product company.

"Now we are entering the third phase. The economy is beginning to reshape around AI. The central question now is how to make advanced AI abundant, affordable, safe, useful, and easy enough for every person and organisation to benefit from it. Frontier capability is only part of the job. The bigger task is turning that capability into tools people can actually use to thrive," the blog said.