At a high-profile AI summit in India, Prime Minister Narendra Modi invited global technology leaders on stage to join hands and raise their fists in a symbolic show of unity. While most executives complied, two prominent figures, Sam Altman of OpenAI and Dario Amodei of Anthropic notably refrained from linking arms.
Standing side by side among 13 corporate leaders, Altman and Amodei kept their raised fists visibly apart. Altman appeared uncomfortable and looked away as others, including Sundar Pichai of Alphabet Inc., followed Modi’s cue and joined hands.
The moment, captured on camera and widely shared on social media, quickly drew amused and pointed commentary online. Many users described the scene as symbolic of the intensifying “AI cold war” between OpenAI and Anthropic, two companies at the forefront of generative artificial intelligence development.
Speaking later to Moneycontrol, Altman said: “I didn’t know what was happening on stage. I wasn’t sure what we were supposed to be doing.”
Neither OpenAI nor Anthropic responded to requests for comment from Reuters.
The summit faced additional turbulence when Bill Gates withdrew from the event just hours before his scheduled keynote address, delivering a setback to what had been promoted as a flagship gathering. The event had already been marked by organisational challenges, including a robot-related controversy and complaints of traffic disruptions.
Despite these issues, the summit secured more than $200 billion in investment pledges, underscoring India’s growing prominence in the global AI landscape.
Anthropic was co-founded in 2021 by Amodei and several former OpenAI employees who split from the company over disagreements concerning safety protocols, commercialisation strategies, and Altman’s leadership approach. Since then, the divide between the two firms has evolved into a full-scale commercial rivalry.
The competition has spilled into public view. During this year’s Super Bowl, Anthropic aired satirical advertisements widely interpreted as taking aim at OpenAI’s reported plans to introduce advertising within ChatGPT.
What began as a symbolic gesture of unity at the India AI summit instead served as a visual reminder of one of Silicon Valley’s most closely watched rivalries, one that continues to shape the future of artificial intelligence.
