India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi (L) takes a group photo with AI company leaders including OpenAI CEO Sam Altman (C) and Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei (R) at the AI Impact Summit in New Delhi on February 19, 2026.
OpenAI's Sam Altman and Anthropic's Dario Amodei had an awkward moment on Thursday as they chose not to hold hands during a group photo of political and tech leaders.
They were on stage at the India AI Impact Summit, alongside Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Google and Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai, among others. Both had been keynote speakers.
Modi had lifted Altman and Pichai's hands before an applauding crowd, with others following suit. However, Altman and Amodei, who were next to each other, raised their fists instead of holding hands with one another.
It comes as competition intensifies between ChatGPT maker OpenAI and Claude maker Anthropic, with both vying for their models to become the default choice for consumers globally.
The companies have also recently traded shots over the potential use of adverts in AI models.
The image of Altman and Amodei opting out of holding hands quickly made the rounds on social media.
Siddharth Bhatia, cofounder of AI startup Puch AI, posted on X: "When AGI? The day Dario and Sam hold hands."
Justine Moore, an investing partner at Andreesen Horowitz, shared a picture with the words: "When you're forced to do a group project with your opp."