OpenAI CFO offers calming message amid AI slowdown fears

17 Sep 2026, 16:13 · The Fresno Bee

Many investors became even more cautious about the AI buildout this week after a weekend essay from one of the industry’s most prominent founders argued that major AI companies need to voluntarily slow down the advancement of powerful new models so safety research can catch up.

A sharp drop in AI chip stocks followed.

Then OpenAI Chief Financial Officer Sarah Friar sat down with Jim Cramer on CNBC’s “Mad Money” on Tuesday, Sept. 15, and told viewers she is not worried about a slower pace of AI development.

Her aim was to calm the fear that a slower pace of development would reduce OpenAI’s value.

What Sarah Friar told investors about a slower AI race

Friar has run OpenAI’s finances since 2024, after serving as finance chief at Square, which is now known as Block. She also served as chief executive of Nextdoor, so her comments are highly valued on Wall Street.

On the show, she made it clear that OpenAI is not shaken by a slower schedule. “Even if we stop today, the amount of intelligence that’s available in the world is massive,” Friar said.

OpenAI plans to spend the coming stretch selling and improving the models it already has, rather than spending money to release the next frontier model.

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“I am a tech optimist, but it is also important to align around safety,” Friar told CNBC. She also added that future spending would be judged based on a strong return on investment, a sign that the company’s management wants to allocate money more carefully.

OpenAI owns ChatGPT and earns money from consumer subscriptions, businesses that pay for its software, developers who reach its models through paid access, and a newer advertising segment. Its enterprise arm recently passed its consumer division as its biggest revenue source, with an annual pace near $40 billion.

Why the AI slowdown debate hit chip stocks like Broadcom

Investors became uneasy last weekend when Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei published an essay urging AI companies to slow the pace of pushing their most advanced models. OpenAI’s Sam Altman and Elon Musk quickly backed the call, according to CNBC.

The selling hit hardest in the companies that supply the buildout. Broadcom (AVGO), which designs custom AI chips and networking gear for data centers, fell 4.8% on Monday, Sept. 14, and the iShares Semiconductor ETF dropped 5.6%, CNBC reported.

Anthropic is on track to become Broadcom’s largest custom-chip customer in 2027, which explains why its investors reacted so sharply.

Broadcom CEO Hock Tan responded fast. When Cramer asked whether the debate changed his revenue forecasts of $115 billion for fiscal 2027 and $230 billion for fiscal 2028, Tan answered, “No, not in the least.”

Nvidia’s Jensen Huang went further and called tighter AI rules “just completely unnecessary” in a separate CNBC interview.

IMEN BEN YOUSSEF / Getty Images

OpenAI’s 2027 IPO plan and its spending reset

Altman has already ruled out OpenAI going public this year and called a 2026 listing “ill-advised,” given the safety questions the industry faces. Friar told employees in August that OpenAI “will be a public company in 2027” or sooner, if growth continues accelerating.

The company’s spending plans behind that patience have already changed. In February, OpenAI reset its long-term data-center spending target to about $600 billion by 2030, down from the $1.4 trillion in infrastructure commitments Altman had outlined, CNBC reported.

The company also completed a record funding round this year that provided enough cash to fund operations while it waits.

What the AI slowdown means for investors

The risks of the AI buildout are still present, so it is good to take some precautions. Companies that already earn real revenue from AI are in a better position than those that still look forward to future models. A slowdown in the advancement of newer models only benefits companies that already have usable models to sell.

As worries about misused or misaligned models grow, spending on digital precautions is increasing, and companies, including CrowdStrike and Palo Alto Networks, have rallied on that demand.

OpenAI is still a private company, and if the AI hype dies down, it could affect a large share of investments. A slowdown could force tech giants to slash their hardware budgets, while the company’s private valuation remains heavily exposed to sudden executive departures and aggressive moves by rivals.

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This story was originally published September 17, 2026 at 9:13 AM.