I was confused: Sam Altman

22-Feb-2026

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OpenAI chief executive Sam Altman on February 19 acknowledged an awkward onstage moment with rival AI firm Anthropic's CEO Dario Amodei during a group photograph with Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the India AI Impact Summit in New Delhi.

"I was sort of confused and didn’t know what I was supposed to do," Altman said hours later, recounting the incident at the summit's inaugural session.

The episode unfolded at Bharat Mandapam after the opening ceremony, when several global technology leaders joined Prime Minister Narendra Modi for a photo opportunity. 

Those on stage included Alphabet and Google CEO Sundar Pichai, Meta's Chief AI Officer Alexandr Wang, Sarvam co-founder Pratyush Kumar, and Google DeepMind CEO Demis Hassabis.