The Wall Street Journal reported Thursday (Jan. 29) that OpenAI is “laying the groundwork” for a fourth-quarter listing and has begun informal discussions with Wall Street banks, according to people familiar with the matter. Still, the Journal cautioned that a year-end IPO would be difficult for a fast-growing company facing intense competition in its core consumer business, including from Google. The Journal also reported that OpenAI is headed to trial in a case brought by co-founder Elon Musk seeking up to $134 billion in damages. OpenAI’s executives have also privately worried about Anthropic beating it to market, the Journal reported. As OpenAI weighs going public, CEO Sam Altman has been blunt about the trade-offs.