India AI Impact Summit: Why OpenAI CEO, Anthropic CEO Skipped Hand Raise Gesture

While several key business leaders such as RIL Chairman & MD, Mukesh Ambani emphasized on a future where "AI is available affordable and beneficial to all," the first crack of refusal was expressed when OpenAI CEO Sam Altman and Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei Altman visibly avoided holding each other's hand for the ceremonial shot at India AI Impact Summit 2026.

This symbolic capture included the presence of PM Narendra Modi, Google CEO Sundar Pichai, and other global tech leaders.

OpenAI vs Anthropic Rivalry Takes Centre Stage

Sam Altman and Dario Amodei both represent the new age of AI in a multi-polar world, however differences between both gain the spotlight as the fight for being at the top globally deployable AI escalates.

The spat began with key ideological differences when both batted for the same side at OpenAI. In 2020, Dario Amodei, OpenAI’s VP of Research, led a safety-concerned phase out of several high-level employees.

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Amodei and his backers, who reportedly voiced distress over OpenAI’s $1 billion partnership with Microsoft later gave birth to Anthropic. This AI firm behind Claude Sonnet 4.6 was founded as a public benefit corporation to serve as a “safety-first” alternative.

While Altman believes in offering tools that allows an individual to learn through practice, Amodei votes for a “Constitutional AI,” where models run basis an internal code of ethics before they ever reach a user.

Earlier this year, there was an advertisement linked war that brewed between these two AI giants. While Altman chose to integrate advertisements into ChatGPT’s free tier to mitigate the impact of high computing costs, Anthropic introduced a Super Bowl campaign as a counter move.

Meanwhile, Sam Altman dubbed Anthropic as “dishonest” and an elitist company that serves “expensive products to rich people,” while presenting OpenAI as a free AI alternative everyone.