Peter Steinberger, the visionary behind OpenClaw (previously known as Moltbot and Clawd), has officially joined OpenAI. He announced his decision on Sunday, revealing his intention to contribute to the San Francisco-based artificial intelligence powerhouse by developing new AI agents. Crucially, Steinberger emphasized that OpenClaw will continue to be an open-source project. In recent weeks, OpenClaw gained significant traction among developers and enthusiasts due to its straightforward setup and independence from cloud services, leading many to create and share innovative agentic workflows online.
OpenClaw’s Creator Joins OpenAI
Steinberger publicly shared his move to OpenAI, stating that his agentic tool will transition to a foundation, ensuring it remains open and independent. He further elaborated in a personal blog post, expressing his excitement to work on making AI agents accessible to everyone.
OpenAI CEO Sam Altman also confirmed Steinberger’s appointment, underscoring that his expertise will be vital in developing the next generation of personal AI agents. Altman praised Steinberger as a ‘genius with a lot of amazing ideas about the future,’ predicting that personal AI agents will become a central part of OpenAI’s product offerings. He added that a ‘multi-agent future’ is imminent, and supporting open-source initiatives like OpenClaw is paramount to this vision.
Steinberger explained that while OpenClaw had the potential to become a successful commercial venture, his primary interest lies in building, not company-founding. Describing himself as ‘a builder at heart,’ he aims to create AI agents that are intuitive enough for anyone, regardless of their technical understanding. He disclosed that he engaged in discussions with several leading AI companies last week before ultimately choosing OpenAI. There were also reports suggesting he considered Meta’s Superintelligence Labs.
Regarding the future of OpenClaw, the AI agent will continue to be available to the open community in its current form. Its management will, however, be overseen by OpenAI’s foundation. This arrangement guarantees that the code remains open and freely available for use, modification, and branching, thus preventing its transformation into a closed, proprietary product.