OpenAI–Anthropic Rivalry: Decoding the Altman–Amodei hand-holding snub

Amodei left the company in 2020 along with several researchers after serving as vice president of research and leading teams behind GPT-2 and GPT-3

• Altman and Amodei avoided holding hands at AI Impact Summit
• Rivalry grows as Anthropic's Claude suite outpaces OpenAI's Codex
• Anthropic and OpenAI publicly debate AI advertising models

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OpenAI CEO Sam Altman and Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei appeared to offer a glimpse of their deepening rivalry when they declined to hold hands during a photo-op at the AI Impact Summit in New Delhi.

On February 19, Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated what was billed as the first major AI summit of the Global South. As business and political leaders gathered on stage for a “family photo,” many joined hands in a symbolic gesture. Altman and Amodei, positioned beside each other, did not. Instead, they stood with their arms raised but apart, avoiding eye contact — an awkward moment that quickly drew attention.

Was the visible discomfort a reflection of the growing tensions between the two AI leaders?

Amodei was once a senior figure at OpenAI. He left the company in 2020 along with several researchers after serving as vice president of research and leading teams behind GPT-2 and GPT-3. Over time, differences emerged over OpenAI’s direction, particularly following its 2019 partnership with Microsoft. According to reports, Amodei was concerned that increasing commercial pressures could compromise long-term AI safety. He is said to have favoured a research environment insulated from the demands of rapid consumer product rollouts. Disagreements over governance and strategy reportedly deepened, and Amodei eventually departed to co-found Anthropic.

AI race intensifies

The two now helm the world’s most valuable closely held AI firms: OpenAI, valued at roughly $500 billion, and Anthropic at about $380 billion. Their competition has sharpened this year as Anthropic gained momentum with a series of advances — most notably the strong adoption of its Claude Code suite, which has outpaced OpenAI’s Codex in market traction. OpenAI responded by hiring the creator of OpenClaw, a widely used open-source AI tool originally built using Anthropic’s technology.

The rivalry has also played out publicly. Anthropic took direct aim at OpenAI with a high-profile Super Bowl advertisement arguing that advertising has no place within AI chatbot interactions and pledging that Claude would remain ad-free. Altman, whose company has been testing advertising models, responded in a 420-word post on X, contending that ad-supported services could make AI more widely accessible.

Altman responds

Speaking to Moneycontrol on February 19, Altman downplayed the incident, saying he was unsure what was expected during the photo opportunity. “I didn’t know what was happening on stage. I wasn’t sure what we were supposed to be doing,” he said.