Volkswacht Bodensee - Summit photo op fails to unite AI startup rivals

A video of the pair at a global AI summit in New Delhi on Thursday rapidly spread on social media after the former colleagues awkwardly refused to hold hands.

Altman, head of ChatGPT maker OpenAI, and Amodei, whose company Anthropic is known for its Claude chatbot, stood beside each other for the photo opportunity on stage.

They were flanked by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Indian AI startup founder Pratyush Kumar in a line with other tech leaders including Google's Sundar Pichai.

As the cameras snapped all raised their arms, hand-in-hand -- except for Altman and Amodei, who broke the chain.

"This is so hilarious. Nothing can make Sam and Dario hold hands, not even the Prime Minister of India!" wrote X user Yuchen Jin.

This week's AI Impact Summit is seeking consensus on how the world should handle artificial intelligence and regulate the fast-evolving technology.

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 two have been vocal in their criticism of each other's business models and philosophies.

Indian lawmaker Milind Deora also took a dig at the pair.

"Everyone else locked hands. @ChatGPTapp and @claudeai kept it strictly professional," he said on X along with a winking face emoji.

"That awkward moment when Sam Altman and Dario Amodei refused to hold hands," wrote Madhav Chanchani, co-founder of The Arc, a tech media and research platform.

"Instead they raised their fists."

C.Kreuzer--VB