Modi AI Summit Highlights Deep Rift Between OpenAI and Anthropic Leaders

The India AI Impact Summit in New Delhi was intended to be a watershed moment for Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s "AI for All" initiative, positioning India as a neutral, global arbiter in the rapidly accelerating artificial intelligence race. However, the event’s carefully curated optics were disrupted by a palpable and highly public display of friction between the industry’s two most influential figures: OpenAI CEO Sam Altman and Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei. As Modi attempted to project an image of global unity, the physical and social distance between Altman and Amodei served as a stark reminder of the deep-seated ideological and commercial schism that has fractured the artificial intelligence community since Anthropic’s contentious founding in 2021.

The friction observed on the New Delhi stage is rooted in a fundamental disagreement over the trajectory of AI development. In 2021, Amodei and several other high-ranking OpenAI executives departed the company to form Anthropic, a move driven by concerns over OpenAI’s shift toward a more commercialized, product-heavy model and a perceived deprioritization of safety protocols. Since then, the two organizations have been locked in an escalating arms race for talent, compute resources, and market dominance. While Altman has championed rapid deployment and massive scale, Amodei has positioned Anthropic as the safety-first alternative, a narrative that has successfully attracted billions in investment from tech giants like Google and Amazon.

“

However, the event’s carefully curated optics were disrupted by a palpable and highly public display of friction between the industry’s two most influential figures: OpenAI CEO Sam Altman and Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei.

Google CEO Sundar Pichai’s presence at the center of the summit’s most awkward interactions added a layer of strategic complexity. Google occupies a unique position in this rivalry; it is a direct competitor to OpenAI through its Gemini models, yet it is also a primary financial backer and cloud provider for Anthropic. By standing between Modi and Altman, Pichai occupied a literal and figurative middle ground in the current AI landscape. For India, the summit was a critical component of its AI for All initiative, which seeks to leverage the country’s vast data resources and developer talent to create localized AI solutions. The visible discord between the American tech leaders highlights the challenge India faces in navigating a fragmented global AI ecosystem as it seeks to attract investment from all sides.

The inability of Altman and Amodei to maintain even a veneer of professional camaraderie suggests that the AI safety vs. acceleration debate has moved beyond academic circles into deeply personal territory. This fragmentation poses significant risks for global AI governance. If the leaders of the most influential AI labs cannot find common ground at a high-level diplomatic summit, the likelihood of achieving a unified international framework for AI regulation remains slim. Industry observers note that such public displays of discord may embolden regulators in the EU and the US to impose stricter oversight, as the industry appears unable to self-regulate or present a cohesive voice on safety standards.

Looking ahead, the New Delhi summit may be remembered less for its policy declarations and more for the visible confirmation of a permanent rift in the AI leadership. As OpenAI prepares for its next major model release and Anthropic continues to scale its Claude platform, the competition is expected to intensify. Investors and policymakers will be watching closely to see if this personal friction translates into divergent technical paths that could further complicate the interoperability and safety of global AI systems. For now, the awkward handshakes in New Delhi serve as a reminder that even in an era of machine intelligence, human ego and history remain powerful drivers of industry direction.