Why Sam Altman and Dario Amodei Did Not Hold Hands With PM Narendra Modi? Details Inside
Sam Altman and Dario Amodei avoided holding hands at India AI Impact Summit, sparking viral reactions amid long standing rivalry.
An awkward moment unfolded at the India AI Impact Summit when the CEOs of rival AI firms OpenAI and Anthropic declined to hold hands during a group photograph with Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
The incident occurred after the keynote address at the summit. Several global technology leaders joined Prime Minister Narendra Modi on stage for a photograph.
The group included Sundar Pichai, Sam Altman, Dario Amodei and Alexandr Wang.
On stage, Modi held the hands of Pichai and Altman and encouraged them to raise their hands for the photograph. However, Altman and Amodei, who were standing next to each other, did not hold hands. Instead, both raised their fists.
The moment was captured on camera and circulated widely on X. It soon became a trending topic on the platform.
The awkward exchange comes against the backdrop of a long standing professional split between the two executives. Amodei, who earlier served as Vice President of Research at OpenAI, left the company in 2021.
He later co founded Anthropic after parting ways with OpenAI. The departure was attributed to differences over the organisation’s direction.
OpenAI is known for rapidly deploying AI products such as ChatGPT for public use. Anthropic positions itself as focusing more strongly on safety and responsible development through its Claude chatbot.
In a 2023 interview with Fortune, Amodei confirmed that he quit OpenAI due to directional differences. 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,” he said.
The brief exchange at the summit has since drawn widespread attention online.
