AI Cold War On Stage: OpenAI, Anthropic CEOs' Awkward Moment At Delhi Summit

A light-hearted yet widely noticed awkward moment unfolded during the group photograph at the India AI Impact Summit in New Delhi today, as OpenAI CEO Sam Altman and Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei chose raised fists instead of holding hands. 

The two executives, representing fiercely competing AI companies, appeared briefly unsure before settling on the gesture, drawing amused reactions online.

#BREAKING | AI Cold War On Stage: OpenAI, Anthropic CEOs' Awkward Moment At #AIIndiaSummit2026

NDTV's @VishnuNDTV and @aishvaryjain Report#AISummit pic.twitter.com/V31XTusxC2

— NDTV (@ndtv) February 19, 2026

Prime Minister Narendra Modi stood at the centre of the high-profile lineup, which included Google and Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai, Scale AI founder Alexandr Wang, Meta's Chief AI Officer, and other global tech leaders. 

The internet was quick to react to the snub. 

When AGI?
The day Dario and Sam hold hands. pic.twitter.com/bfmqgnTV89

— Siddharth Bhatia (@siddharthb_) February 19, 2026

"When AGI? The day Dario and Sam hold hands," wrote Siddharth Bhatia, co-founder of Puch AI. 

Amodei is a former vice president of research at OpenAI. He left the company in early 2021 to co-found Anthropic with several other senior OpenAI researchers.

The five-day AI Impact Summit, from February 16 to 20 at Bharat Mandapam, has drawn more than 500 global AI leaders, 150 academics and researchers, and 400 chief technology officers, vice-presidents, and philanthropists. 

Earlier in the day Amodei told delegates that the world is approaching a transformative moment in which AI systems will surpass most humans in most cognitive tasks, creating unprecedented opportunities to tackle disease and poverty but also raising serious risks of misuse and economic disruption.

Amodei described the rapid progress in AI capabilities as following an exponential curve over the past decade, comparable to a "Moore's law for intelligence". 

"The energy and ambition in this room and across India are incredible. I've been spending the last few days meeting with Indian builders and enterprises, and the energy to build together here is palpable, unlike anywhere else," Amodei said. 

He said society was now well advanced along that trajectory and that only a small number of years remained before AI models exceeded the cognitive abilities of most humans across most domains.

Similarly, Altman on Thursday stated that India is currently leading the world in AI adoption and is poised to become one of the largest markets for the technology. He said that India is not just participating in the Artificial Intelligence revolution but leading it.