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\t\t\tFuturism \/ Ludovic MARIN \/ AFP via Getty Images\n\t<\/p>\n
There\u2019s no love being lost between Sam Altman and Dario Amodei.<\/p>\n
At India\u2019s AI Summit in New Delhi on Thursday, the respective CEOs of OpenAI and Athropic\u00a0shared the stage with roughly a dozen other industry and political leaders, including the nation\u2019s prime minister Narendra Modi. As they stood in a line facing the crowd, Modi beckoned them to join hands and raise them above their heads, presenting a united front.<\/p>\n
Except Altman and Amodei, whose companies are bitter rivals, didn\u2019t follow suit. Instead of holding hands, there\u2019s only a brief moment of awkward eye contact as they largely avoid looking at each other, with Amodei searching around himself in a kind of \u201cwho, me?\u201d gesture \u2014 which, had it been on a different kind of stage, would be hailed as a great bit of comic acting. In the end, both Altman and Amodei elected to raise a closed fist with the hands they should\u2019ve been locking.<\/p>\n
It was, as one Redditor described<\/a>, a \u201ccringe masterpiece.\u201d Amodei did not look particularly thrilled. Altman, as he waited for Amodei\u2019s final decision, held his free hand in front of his chest, seemingly confused.<\/p>\n It heightened what was already an absurd spectacle. The leaders of an industry that promises utopia on the horizon were smiling as they showed support for a prime minister who\u2019s been widely criticized as authoritarian, all holding hands like they\u2019re about to play ring around the rosie.<\/p>\n The rivalry between OpenAI and Anthropic goes deep. Anthropic was formed from a splinter group of former OpenAI employees, including Amodei, who left the company because of differences over its direction and to focus on safety.\u00a0<\/p>\n But it\u2019s recently reached new heights. This month, Anthropic piled pressure onto OpenAI with a new series of Super Bowl commercials that were a thinly-veiled dig at OpenAI\u2019s decision to start shoving advertisements into ChatGPT.<\/p>\n And it clearly struck a nerve. Altman unbecomingly responded with a lengthy rant on X<\/a>, accusing the Anthropic ads of being \u201cdeceptive\u201d and suggesting that Anthropic was an \u201cauthoritarian company.\u201d That\u2019s while admitting he thought the ads were \u201cfunny,\u201d as if to convince us that he could take a joke, and not be having the mini-meltdown that he was clearly experiencing.<\/p>\n The two companies are also poised to lock heads over shaping the industry\u2019s regulation. Last week, Anthropic announced<\/a> it would pour $20 million into a super PAC formed to combat another super PAC backed by key OpenAI figures and investors. Anthropic\u2019s side is fighting for stronger AI regulation, while OpenAI\u2019s favors a laissez-faire playing field. Among other things, the money will go to the campaigns of favored candidates ahead of the upcoming midterm elections.<\/p>\n