Pakani founder recalls Sam Altman’s kindness amid ‘sociopath’ claims

A Pakani entrepreneur has spoken out in Sam Altman’s defense after the OpenAI chief was painted a “sociopath” in a new investigative piece the New Yorker. Waqas Ali, who is based in the US, recalled Altman’s kindess when he met him for the first time in 2015.A US-based Pakani founder defended OpenAI CEO Sam Altman (AFP)At that time, Ali had just moved to the US from a small village in Pakan to participate in the startup accelerator Y Combinator. Sam Altman was then the president of Y Combinator, and Ali recalled how everyone was slightly intimidated him. Even so, Altman displayed uncommon kindness when he spoke to Ali — even inviting him to his San Francisco apartment for tea.Ali spoke in praise of Altman and defended him against allegations of being a liar and a sociopath that appeared in a recent piece in the New Yorker.Who is Waqas Ali?Waqas Ali is a Pakani entrepreneur and co-founder of Atoms, a Brooklyn-based footwear brand known for its comfortable and minimal designs. Along with his wife, Sidra Qasim, Ali participated in the Y Combinator accelerator programme in 2015.(Also readWaqas Ali on Sam AltmanIn a post shared on the social media platform X, Ali revealed that he first met the OpenAI chief executive in 2015, when he moved to the US from Pakan. At that time, he was still “scared of speaking English” but excited to be part of Y Combinator.“Sam was not my partner but I was so curious and saw how everyone around him acted a bit intimidated him,” he recalled.He went on to describe his first meeting with Altman, where he asked the OpenAI chief: “Are you a supernatural person or phenomena, why is everyone so scared of you?”According to Ali, Sam Altman laughed a lot at this question, then asked Ali about his life.An invite to teaThe tech CEO then invited the Pakani entrepreneur to his San Francisco apartment for tea and to go through his collection of sneakers. For Ali, who was then building Atoms, the opportunity to go through Altman’s sneaker collection was a big one.Altman did not just serve tea, he also helped Ali with his pitch deck and introduced him to Alfred Lin.(Also read: Sam Altman shares blunt advice for youth preparing for AI era: ‘Lening to old people is biggest make’)Ali also revealed that years later, when he started a new venture, he asked Altman for funding. Altman refused, but was “kind and supportive”.Despite the refusal, the Pakani entrepreneur had only good things to say about Altman. He even sent the AI CEO a wedding present — a painting made his daughter Aliff when she was two.Waqas Ali defends Sam AltmanAli ended his post alluding to the New Yorker piece where a number of people associated with Altman described him as sociopathic and manipulative while raising questions about his trustworthiness.“He’s unconstrained truth,” one board member told the New Yorker. “He has two traits that are almost never seen in the same person. The first is a strong desire to please people, to be liked in any given interaction. The second is almost a sociopathic lack of concern for the consequences that may come from deceiving someone.”Ali, however, said that he did not recognise these traits in Altman. “I don’t know the man in the article everyone is reading. I never worked with him directly. I know the one who laughed at my strange question and then asked me mine. Admittedly i don’t know how to hold both and I’m not trying to,” he concluded.(Also read: Sam Altman says he can’t imagine raising his newborn without ChatGPT, internet calls it ‘stunted perspective’)