With Prime Minister Narendra Modi watching, the long-running rivalry between OpenAI’s Sam Altman and Anthropic’s Dario Amodei was visible for everyone to see at Delhi’s Bharat Mandapam.As the leaders on stage were asked to hold hands, Altman and Amodei appeared uncomfortable standing next to each other. They hesitated and instead of joining hands like the others, raised their fists and broke the chain. Pictures of the two quickly went viral.Amodei left OpenAI years ago over concerns that the company was moving too fast toward commercialisation and not focusing enough on safety. He went on to build Anthropic with a safety-first approach.Altman, on the other hand, believes AI should reach billions of people. To make that possible, OpenAI has pushed hard to commercialise its products and explore advertising to keep services affordable.Their rivalry has only grown stronger. Recently, the two companies even launched competing coding tools within minutes of each other, showing that the battle is not just about ideas, but also about building the best products.What played out on stage was more than an awkward moment. It reflected a bigger divide shaping the future of artificial intelligence.AI cold war on stage: Awkward moment:Leaders were asked to hold hands as a sign of unity.Altman and Amodei hesitated and instead raised their fists, breaking the chain.It highlighted their ongoing rivalry.Background of rivalry:Dario Amodei and his sister Daniela left OpenAI over concerns about its focus on commercialisation vs safety.They founded Anthropic with a “safety-first” approach.Altman remained at OpenAI, focused on democratizing AI for billions of users.Ideological clash:OpenAI pushes commercialisation and ads to sustain AI for the masses.Anthropic focuses on safety and premium products for a smaller audience.Both criticize each other publicly, showing deep ideological differences.Recent tensions:Anthropic aired a Super Bowl ad mocking OpenAI’s move to add ads in ChatGPT.Altman responded on X (formerly Twitter), defending OpenAI’s approach.Product rivalry:Both companies released major coding tools within 20 minutes of each other.Anthropic launched Claude Opus 4.6.OpenAI followed with GPT-5.3 Codex, claiming it can do “anything” a human developer can do.The rivalry is not just personal or commercial, but also about how AI should be built, shared, and used safely.
