Sam Altman on awkward on-stage scene with Dario Amodei: ‘Wasn’t sure what we were supposed to be doing’

At the India AI Impact Summit 2026, a moment involving OpenAI's CEO Sam Altman and Anthropic's CEO Dario Amodei captured the attention of social media when they hesitated to hold hands during a staged photo opportunity. Altman later expressed his uncertainty about the situation in an interview with Moneycontrol. During the event, Prime Minister Narendra Modi unexpectedly took Altman's hand and raised it, prompting confusion for the OpenAI leader. "I just wasn’t sure what we were supposed to be doing," Altman remarked, reflecting on the unexpected directive from the Prime Minister as he stood next to Amodei on stage. The incident occurred on the fourth day of the summit, where numerous prominent figures in the AI field, including Alphabet's Sundar Pichai and Meta's Chief AI Officer Alexandr Wang, gathered for a group photo. Despite the expectation to hold hands, both Altman and Amodei appeared visibly uncomfortable with the idea. Eventually, they lifted their hands but did not make physical contact. Sam Altman, who has been leading OpenAI since 2019, and Dario Amodei, who co-founded Anthropic, previously collaborated at OpenAI. Their professional paths diverged in 2020 when Amodei and several colleagues left the organization due to differing views on its future direction. This led to the establishment of Anthropic, where they aim to pursue AI development independently of their former employer.