"Invited Me To His Apartment": Pakistani Entrepreneur Defends Sam Altman Amid 'Sociopath' Claims

Waqas Ali, the Pakistani-born co-founder of the Brooklyn-based footwear brand Atoms, came in support of OpenAI CEO Sam Altman after he was labelled a "sociopath."  The defense follows a lengthy investigative report published by The New Yorker, where several tech insiders and former OpenAI board members described Altman as a "relentless liar" who manipulates people to achieve his goals. One source in the report explicitly alleged that Altman has a "sociopathic lack of concern for the consequences that may come from deceiving someone." 

In response, Ali shared a personal account from 2015 to counter these claims, describing Altman's "kindness and support" during a pivotal moment in his career. Ali recalled the summer of 2015 when he had just moved from a small village in Pakistan to the US to join the startup accelerator Y Combinator. At the time, Altman was the president of Y Combinator. Ali recalled that while many in the cohort were intimidated by Altman, his personal experience was the opposite.

Altman invited Ali to his San Francisco apartment for tea and to go through his collection of sneakers, an interaction Ali used to illustrate Altman's genuine nature and willingness to support newcomers. He also helped Ali with his pitch deck and introduced him to Alfred Lin.

"I met Sam during our office hours, and I started by asking him, 'Are you a supernatural person or phenomenon?' Why is everyone so scared of you?' He laughed a lot, then asked me my story, then tweeted this, then invited me to his SF apartment for tea and to go through his sneakers/shoes. He worked with me on my pitch deck and introduced me to Alfred Lin (big Zappos fan here!) when I asked, Ali wrote. 

"Years later, when I was starting something new and didn't want to raise money from anyone, I asked him anyway. He declined but was kind and supportive about it," he added.

See the tweet here:

summer 2015, i had just moved to the US for YC, still scared of speaking english. i was big fan of PG and everyone at YC who wrote, sam was not my partner but i was so curious and saw how everyone around him acted a bit intimidated by him.

i meet sam during our office hours and… https://t.co/HG6LOKCXvr

— Waqas Ali (@waqasali) April 7, 2026

The 'sociopath' allegations primarily stem from former and current associates who describe Altman as "unconstrained by truth" and manipulative in his business dealings. Sources claimed he used AI safety as a "bargaining chip" to gain engineer support while secretly working around those same safety demands. 

Based on hundreds of interviews, the report quotes one OpenAI board member using the word "sociopath" to describe Altman. The source alleged that Altman combines a strong desire to be liked with a "sociopathic lack of concern" for the consequences of deceiving others.

"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," the source claimed.