Andrew Ho left OpenAI just eight months after joining and immediately warned his former colleagues that the company’s post-IPO valuation might drop by 50%. In a viral message on X, Ho advised employees eligible for tender offers to take liquidity now rather than risk a steep plunge.
Ho’s prediction rattled the tech sector during a broader market selloff. He expressed skepticism that OpenAI’s valuation would double post-IPO, instead suggesting the risk of a significant correction is real. This warning shows growing skepticism around the tech giant’s private market pricing, which many now see as inflated.
Besides leaving OpenAI, Ho announced he’s launching a startup focused on high-quality reinforcement learning datasets, especially in scientific reasoning and biology. This move taps into a rising demand across AI labs for specialized training data capable of enabling complex agentic tasks. His work on GeneBench-Pro, a biological reasoning benchmark, positions him uniquely for this niche.
Ho’s exit follows a string of high-profile departures from OpenAI through 2026, signaling more than ordinary turnover and hinting at underlying concerns about the company’s long-term prospects. As whispers about the valuation risks grow louder, employees face difficult choices balancing potential gains against mounting uncertainty.
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