Sam Altman said his years running Y Combinator taught him to govern an ecosystem rather than directly command the companies it backed, a lesson he now applies at OpenAI. In an interview with Fortune Editor-in-Chief Alyson Shontell, Altman said OpenAI must balance the demands of governments seeking oversight, corporate partners seeking returns, researchers seeking freedom and the public’s concerns about AI safety. He confirmed that OpenAI will not pursue an initial public offering in 2026, saying the regulatory, ethical and safety infrastructure surrounding advanced AI is not sufficiently developed for the company to enter the quarterly earnings cycle. Altman’s governance philosophy carries added significance after OpenAI’s 2023 board crisis, when he was briefly ousted before being reinstated days later. The company has since moved toward a more conventional corporate framework while seeking to retain its mission-driven focus. Altman has also argued that leading AI companies and governments may eventually need shared standards and testing, and has highlighted potential advances in biotechnology, materials science, cybersecurity, energy and software built on the fly.