Congress, BJP Spar Over Anthropic CEO’s ‘Disorganised’ India AI Summit Remark

Last Updated:June 19, 2026, 11:20 IST

Amodei described the India AI Summit as “extremely disorganised” while explaining an awkward on-stage moment involving Sam Altman and himself during a group photo session.

A fresh political controversy has erupted over comments made by Anthropic CEO and co-founder Dario Amodei about the India AI Summit held in New Delhi earlier this year, with the Congress and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) engaging in a war of words over the remarks.

The row began after a video clip from Amodei’s interview with Bloomberg resurfaced on social media. In the interview, Amodei described the India AI Summit as “extremely disorganised" while explaining an awkward on-stage moment involving OpenAI CEO Sam Altman and himself during a group photo session at the event.

The summit, held in February, brought together more than 100 global AI leaders, chief executives, policymakers and industry experts to discuss the future of artificial intelligence. The event was attended by several prominent technology figures, including Altman and Amodei, who previously worked together at OpenAI before the latter left to establish Anthropic.

Responding to a question about why he and Altman appeared reluctant to hold hands during a photo opportunity on stage, Amodei said the organisers had changed the order in which participants were standing at the last minute and then instructed them to hold hands for the photograph.

“What happened was that the summit was extremely disorganised. We all came up at the last minute and they changed the order in which we were standing. And then they took a picture of us and they ordered us all to hold hands," Amodei said during the interview.

Congress Highlighted Amodei’s Remarks

The remarks were subsequently highlighted by Amitabh Dubey, Congress’s research and monitoring in-charge, who shared the clip on social media and drew attention to Amodei’s criticism of the summit’s organisation.

However, the BJP quickly hit back, accusing the Congress of selectively sharing the remarks while omitting Amodei’s clarification that he was not singling out India.

In the same interview, Amodei had added that such issues were common at international gatherings involving world leaders and senior officials. “If you’ve ever been to one of these summits, and I’m not saying anything bad about India in particular, but all of these kind of international type summits that have heads of state are super disorganised," he said.

BJP Hits Back

BJP IT department head Amit Malviya accused the Congress of deliberately circulating an edited version of the interview to create a negative narrative around India’s hosting of the summit.

“The India-loathing Congress ecosystem is circulating an edited clip to malign the hugely successful AI Summit held in Delhi," Malviya said in a post on X. He argued that the Congress had ignored Amodei’s broader context and clarification in an attempt to undermine India’s achievements on the global technology stage.

Malviya further said the summit had successfully brought together global AI leaders, policymakers and industry experts, describing it as an important platform for discussions on emerging technologies. He accused the Opposition party of manufacturing outrage for political gain by presenting only a portion of Amodei’s comments.

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