At a highly publicised moment during the India AI summit, Prime Minister Narendra Modi prompted invited corporate leaders on stage to link hands in a symbolic act of unity. Cameras recorded most executives complying, but two prominent figures did not. Sam Altman, chief executive of OpenAI, and Dario Amodei, co-founder of Anthropic, raised their fists yet kept them noticeably separate despite standing side by side with the other leaders.
Video of the episode spread across social media and generated a flurry of commentary. Altman was shown looking away while others, including Alphabet's Sundar Pichai, followed the prime minister's cue to join hands. Observers online characterised the moment as reflecting the so-called "AI cold war" between OpenAI and Anthropic, a rivalry that has become increasingly public-facing.
Altman later told the news website Moneycontrol: "I didn’t know what was happening on stage. I wasn’t sure what we were supposed to be doing." OpenAI and Anthropic did not reply to requests for comment.
The public tension between the two companies has roots in Anthropic's formation. Anthropic was co-founded in 2021 by Dario Amodei and several former OpenAI employees who left the organisation over disputes about safety, commercialisation and leadership style under Altman. Since then, the split has escalated into a sharp commercial competition. This past Super Bowl, Anthropic broadcast satirical advertisements that directly targeted OpenAI's plans to introduce advertising inside ChatGPT.
The summit itself faced additional issues. Bill Gates withdrew from the event hours before his planned keynote, a development that was seen as a setback for the flagship conference. Attendees and commentators also pointed to organisational shortcomings, a dispute over a robot demonstration, and complaints about traffic congestion linked to the event. Despite these problems, organisers reported that the summit had secured more than $200 billion in investment pledges.
The on-stage interaction and surrounding disruptions underlined the delicate mix of spectacle, competition and logistical challenge at major tech gatherings. The episode drew attention to interpersonal and corporate fault lines at the highest levels of the AI industry while leaving the factual circumstances of the stage moment and its wider implications to public discussion.