AI can't solve this: OpenAI's Altman, Anthropic's Amodei avoid holding hands at AI Summit as rivalry heats up

PM Narendra Modi (centre) with Sundar Pichai (left), Sam Altman and Dario Amodei and others at the AI Summit. In the picture, Altman and Amodei (both on the right) can be seen not holding hands.

• PM Modi joined global leaders at the AI Impact Summit in Delhi
• OpenAI's Altman and Anthropic's Amodei didn't appear together on stage
• Tensions rise as Anthropic criticizes OpenAI's ChatGPT ad plans

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Prime Minister Narendra Modi joined global leaders on February 19 at the AI Impact Summit in New Delhi to outline a shared and inclusive vision for harnessing the full potential of artificial intelligence.

Yet, even as speakers emphasised collaboration and collective responsibility, attention turned to a subtle moment on stage. OpenAI CEO Sam Altman and Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei — whose companies are increasingly at odds — stood beside each other but did not join hands during a symbolic gesture with other leaders.

Altman and Amodei shared the dais with Modi and other technology executives, including Google CEO Sundar Pichai.

Later, during an interview with Moneycontrol, Altman claimed that he didn't know what he was supposed to do on stage. "I didn't know what was happening on stage. I wasn't sure what we were supposed to be doing," he said.

Track all the latest updates from the global AI summit in New Delhi

Amodei founded Anthropic in 2021 after departing OpenAI, citing differences over the direction of AI development, particularly around safety and commercialisation, according to media reports.

Before launching Anthropic, Amodei served as OpenAI’s vice president of research and played a key role in developing models such as GPT-2 and GPT-3. He, along with several colleagues, left the company in 2020 and 2021 amid disagreements over strategy and governance.

Tensions between the two AI heavyweights intensified earlier this month after reports said Anthropic had spent millions on commercials during the National Football League championship game, criticising OpenAI’s reported plans to introduce advertising on ChatGPT. The move marked one of the most public confrontations yet between leading artificial-intelligence firms.

OpenAI Chief Executive Sam Altman pushed back, describing the Anthropic advertisement as “deceptive” in a post on X.

The clash comes on the heels of Anthropic’s latest funding round, in which the Claude chatbot maker raised $30 billion, more than doubling its valuation to $380 billion and highlighting strong investor appetite for both the company and the broader AI sector.

Anthropic has sought to distinguish itself by sharpening its focus on coding capabilities. Its Claude Code tool has gained traction among developers, strengthening the company’s position in the enterprise AI market.

More recently, the launch of a new series of plugins for its Cowork agent triggered a sharp selloff in global software stocks, as investors weighed the potentially disruptive impact of increasingly advanced AI models on the sector.