AUSTIN — By Patricia Pending, AI Bee Reel Staff

February 19, 2026

NEW DELHI, India — A planned moment of global unity crashed due to a hardware error today. A line of executives stood on stage happily holding hands like a kindergarten class, interrupted by a visible 3-foot ‘force field’ of awkwardness between the two rival CEOs who refuse to touch.

“The proprietary skin protocols were simply not compatible,” said Chief Unity Officer Raj Patel. “When the Prime Minister asked them to link up, both CEOs froze. It was a classic driver conflict. OpenAI uses a closed grip, while Anthropic relies on an open-palm architecture. They just stared at the floor until the moment passed.”

“We cannot risk physical cross-contamination,” explained VP of Human Relations Linda Glass. “If their palms touch, they might accidentally share trade secrets through osmosis. We advise a strict zero-touch policy to keep our shareholders happy. It is safer to just stand there looking uncomfortable.”

At press time, the CEOs agreed to wave at each other from behind bulletproof glass to prevent data leaks.

Inspired by the real story: At an AI summit in India, the CEOs of OpenAI and Anthropic refused to hold hands during a group photo despite being asked to do so. Read the full story.