OpenAI is joining the mega AI lab IPO race, but the timing is uncertain

With OpenAI’s announcement on Monday that it, like Anthropic, has confidentially filed for an IPO with the Securities and Exchange Commission, the race to take the mega AI lab public is officially on.

In a post on the OpenAI website, the company said it recently made a confidential filing with the SEC. “We’re assuming it will leak, so we’ll just announce it,” the post reads. “We haven’t decided on the timing yet; it may take a while because there are things we want to do that are probably easier as a private company. But it’s a complicated series of trade-offs and that gives us the opportunity to go public sooner if that ends up being the best thing.”

Anthropic’s announcement last week was equally light, saying its planned IPO “will depend on market conditions and other factors.”

While the timing is uncertain, the fact that both companies have taken this step – submitting draft versions of their IPO prospectuses to regulators for feedback – means they…