At the India AI Impact Summit in New Delhi, Prime Minister Narendra Modi encouraged speakers on stage to join hands and raise them together.
He wanted to show unity in global technology efforts. Most executives followed the instruction without hesitation. However, Sam Altman and Dario Amodei did not fully participate.
Although they stood next to each other, they kept their hands noticeably apart. What should have been a good display of collaboration instead highlighted distance.
Escalated Rivalry
Altman heads OpenAI, while Amodei leads Anthropic. Both firms are at the forefront of AI development, and naturally, competition between them is intense.
However, recent events have made that rivalry more visible. OpenAI’s decision to explore advertisements within ChatGPT caused debate.
Shortly after the decision, Anthropic responded in a very public way during the Super Bowl. It ran ads that criticized the idea of ads in AI assistants.
It positioned its own product, Claude, as an alternative that would never include advertising.
Altman responded soon after. He rejected Anthropic’s claims and described the portrayal as inaccurate. Altman went further to call the company “dishonest” and “authoritarian.”
He also stressed that OpenAI would not introduce ads in a way that harms user experience.
India
Both companies are making major moves in India. And the summit served as a platform for announcements, partnerships, and expansion plans.
OpenAI outlined several initiatives. It plans to open two new offices in the country, and also announced a partnership with Tata Consultancy Services.
This collaboration will support the deployment of AI tools across enterprises, including solutions tailored for higher education.
Anthropic is following a similar path; it has already opened an office in India. Furthermore, it partnered with Infosys.
The partnership focuses on deploying Anthropic’s AI tools for both internal use and external clients.
These parallel moves show clear intent. Both companies want strong positioning in a fast-growing market.
