Is an ego battle brewing between the CEOs of the two leading global AI companies? During a photo-op at the AI Impact Summit in New Delhi—an event attended by world leaders and prominent tech executives—Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei and OpenAI CEO Sam Altman appeared to be the only leaders not holding hands, prompting social media users to speculate that there may still be bad blood between the two foremost entrepreneurs in the AI space.
Recently, on the Prof G Markets podcast, hosts Scott Galloway and Ed Elson invited valuation specialist Aswath Damodaran to discuss whose stock—OpenAI’s or Anthropic’s—could be more profitable once they go public. Damodaran’s pick was based on his view that leadership ego could ultimately influence long-term investor returns.
Damodaran’s bet is on “smart” and “egotistical” leadership at Anthropic
“I think I would pick Anthropic purely based on the ego of the people running the company,” Damodaran said, adding, “This is a space where if you have smart, egotistical people running the company, you are in danger. Because they are going to overplay their cards.”
Explaining why he would not bet on OpenAI, Damodaran said he does not believe the company is capable of “learning” and “changing” at a pace comparable to Anthropic, which he views as more dynamic and adaptable.
“With Sam Altman, my feeling is, he might be a smart guy, he might have a good set of cards, but he is always going to overplay those cards because he believes that his cards are better than they truly are,” he said.
However, Damodaran clarified that he personally would not invest in either company at current private-market valuations. “Collectively, the pricing just seems too rich to me,” he noted.
He added that while Anthropic would be his preferred choice in the LLM space, he remains cautious overall.
“I am not particularly eager to have any of them in my portfolio. For me, they all look pretty richly priced, but if you force me, I will pick Anthropic over OpenAI,” Damodaran said.
Both companies’ reported valuations are based on recent funding rounds and investor estimates. Neither has been publicly listed, as both remain privately held.
Shared history between Sam Altman and Dario Amodei
Altman and Amodei were colleagues at OpenAI until 2019. However, a difference in opinion about the company’s trajectory forced Amodei to exit in 2020, along with several other former OpenAI executives.
Later, Amodei founded his own company, Anthropic, to rival Altman’s OpenAI. Thus, the awkward photo-op moment between the two holds significance given their shared history in shaping the global AI narrative.
However, when asked about the embarrassing incident, his comments indicated it had nothing to do with his relationship with Dario Amodei. “I was sort of confused and didn’t know what I was supposed to do,” he said.
Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei has yet to comment publicly on the issue, leaving social media users to continue speculating about the dynamics shaping the global AI landscape between the two competitors.
Also Read: Sam Altman Bets Big on India as Next AI Powerhouse Banking on the Country’s Adoption Potential
