'Washington moment': Mukesh Ambani and Anand Mahindra had to take an Uber ride in US; here's why

Can you imagine Reliance Industries chairman Mukesh Ambani and Mahindra Group chairman Anand Mahindra hailing an Uber ride together? This is what exactly both of them had to do while on their recent US visit when they missed a group shuttle bus to their next engagement.  

Mahindra on Sunday shared his picture with Ambani, astronaut Sunita Williams, and Vrinda Kapoor on Twitter. Mahindra wrote while sharing the picture that the three—Anand Mahindra, Mukesh Ambani, and 3rdiTech co-founder Vrinda Kapoor-- were in a conversation with the US Secretary of Commerce.  

He added due to this, they missed the group shuttle bus to the next lunch and were trying to call an Uber. Mahindra further recounted that they ran into the veteran astronaut Sunita Williams while trying to call an Uber.  

The Mahindra Group chairperson tweeted: “I suppose this was what they would call a ‘Washington moment.’  After the tech handshake meeting yesterday, Mukesh Ambani, Vrinda Kapoor & I were continuing a conversation with the Secretary of Commerce & missed the group shuttle bus to the next lunch engagement. We were trying to call an Uber when we ran into NASA astronaut Sunita Williams @Astro_Suni. Time for a selfie & we also asked if we could hitch a ride on her space shuttle instead of an Uber…(sic)."

The industrialist has been sharing glimpses from his recent US visit. Mahindra on Saturday shared photos from the Tech Handshake meeting at the White House. Mahindra said that he met OpenAI CEO Sam Altman on the sidelines of this meeting wherein the two discussed the challenge accepted by Tech Mahindra CEO CP Gurnani.  

Mahindra further said Altman mentioned he had been misunderstood. He tweeted: “The Tech Handshake meeting this morning at the White House, was refreshingly frank, thanks to the direction of @GinaRaimondo. My optimism about closer technology cooperation is because mutual benefit is now involved rather than just a one-way request from India. On the sidelines of the meeting, I caught up with Sam Altman about the ‘challenge’ that @C_P_Gurnani had accepted. Sam reiterated that he’d been misunderstood. He’s far from sceptical about Indian abilities."

Gurnani shared a video by Altman this month wherein the latter said that Indian companies cannot compete with Silicon Valley firms on advancements in artificial intelligence (AI). The Tech Mahindra CEO tweeted in response: “OpenAI founder Sam Altman said it’s pretty hopeless for Indian companies to try and compete with them. Dear Sam Altman, from one CEO to another… CHALLENGE ACCEPTED. "

Altman said in the video shared by Gurnani: “The way this works is we’re going to tell you, it’s totally hopeless to compete with us on training foundation models you shouldn’t try, and it’s your job to like try anyway. And I believe both of those things. I think it is pretty hopeless”. He was replying to former Google Vice President in India and South East Asia Rajan Anandan. Anandan asked Altman whether India could build an AI tool like ChatGPT.  

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