Sam Altman said OpenAI will put its mission ahead of its share price once it goes public, even if the stock “falls a lot”. The OpenAI chief executive said it in an interview with Vanity Fair, published on 5 October.

Vanity Fair global editorial director Mark Guiducci recorded the conversation in San Francisco on 11 September. It was the first of two interviews. Vanity Fair said on air that its parent company, Condé Nast, has a content deal with OpenAI.

“Then it falls”

Guiducci asked whether going public would change the soul of the company. Altman said OpenAI will not be like other public companies.

“Even when we go public, which we are not in a rush to do, we will still have a nonprofit that governs…