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Sam Altman and Dario Amodei avoided holding hands during a summit photo-op with PM Modi, and the moment went viral.
Altman later said he was “confused” about the gesture on stage.
The incident reignited discussion about the OpenAI–Anthropic rivalry.
An awkward moment between the CEOs of two of the world's most prominent artificial intelligence firms, OpenAI and Anthropic, has been going viral on the internet. The two leaders were seen not holding hands while the others did during a high-profile group photograph with Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the Open AI Summit in New Delhi, India, on Thursday, 19 February 2026.
The incident took place on stage when several global technology executives joined the Prime Minister following the summit’s opening ceremony at Bharat Mandapam. Others present on stage included some famous names such as Sundar Pichai, Sam Altman, Dario Amodei, Alexandr Wang, Demis Hassabis, and Sarvam co-founder Pratyush Kumar.
PM Modi stood at the centre as cameras flashed, surrounded by leaders, with Pichai and Altman on either side of him. Everyone was encouraged to hold each other's hands and raise them to showcase unity. Everyone followed and did the same, but the focus was drawn to the awkward pause between Altman and Amodei, who were standing next to each other. The two raised their fists separately and did not link their hands together, which did not go unnoticed by the internet.
Clips of the moment went viral on social media within minutes, prompting jokes and memes about the two AI chiefs. Many started discussing the rivalry that takes us back to the history of the two companies. However, Altman later said that he was confused at the moment, stating, “I didn’t know what I was supposed to do.” He then added, “Modi grabbed my hand and put it up, and I just wasn’t sure what we were supposed to be doing.” He also said that perhaps the gesture was a cue that marked the end of the event.
The exchange attracted so much discussion and interest because of the well-known rivalry between the two firms, OpenAI and Anthropic. One of them is OpenAI, which is leading the AI market with its rapidly scaling models that can be widely accessed by the public, such as ChatGPT. The other is Anthropic, which has positioned itself as research-focused and safety-driven. It is behind the Claude chatbot and has established itself as a company that gives emphasis to alignment and the cautious deployment of AI systems.
However, the twist in the case is that Amodei previously worked as the Vice President of Research at OpenAI until 2021, after which he left the company with his sister, Daniela Amodei, and several other senior researchers. They cited differences regarding the company's future endeavours as the reason for leaving and then went on to establish Anthropic. Amodei even spoke about the same in a 2023 interview, putting forth his idea when he said, “You needed something in addition to just scaling the models up, which is alignment or safety. You don’t tell the models what their values are just by pouring more compute into them.”
The situation led to the two companies becoming direct competitors in both commercial and research domains, which is often evident to the public eye.
(SY)
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