Some OpenAI shareholders reportedly question whether Altman can steer the company to a public offering OpenAI CEO Sam Altman is reportedly facing internal pushback as the company heads toward its IPO. According to the Wall Street Journal, some shareholders question whether Altman should lead OpenAI through a planned IPO at a valuation of around $850 billion. Bret Taylor, former co-CEO of Salesforce, is being floated as a potential replacement. Taylor publicly backed Altman, calling him "uniquely qualified to be leading this company." A key concern is Altman's private investments.

He reportedly asked OpenAI to lead a funding round for Helion, a fusion startup where he is a major shareholder, and pushed for funding for rocket maker Stoke Space, in which he holds a stake through his family office, Hydrazine Capital. Several Altman-backed products are also being scaled back, including the Sora video app and ChatGPT's "adult mode," which may no longer be on the roadmap. Product chief Fidji Simo, whom Altman brought on board, is redirecting resources toward a new enterprise super app.

Simo is currently on medical leave, and Altman isn't among those filling in for her. AI News Without the Hype – Curated by Humans Subscribe to THE DECODER for ad-free reading, a weekly AI newsletter, our exclusive "AI Radar" frontier report six times a year, full archive access, and access to our comment section. Subscribe now.