OpenClaw Developer Peter Steinberger Joins OpenAI; His AI Agent Will Stay Open Source
In the matter surrounding Austrian developer Peter Steinberger and the AI agent OpenClaw, things are moving rapidly. Last week it became clear that Steinberger received offers from Mark Zuckerberg’s Meta and Sam Altman’s OpenAI following OpenClaw’s surprising success. The Upper Austrian native has now made his decision.
He has announced his move to OpenAI. At the same time, his open-source project OpenClaw is to be transferred to a foundation and continue to exist independently.
From Playground to Game Changer
Steinberger describes his OpenClaw project as a “playground project” that unexpectedly attracted major attention. Over the past month, the initiative developed into a closely watched project in the AI community. The developer, who already brings 13 years of experience building his own company, sees collaboration with OpenAI as the best opportunity to realize his vision more quickly.
At OpenAI, Steinberger will work on developing AI agents that should be accessible to a broad user base. His stated goal is to develop an agent that is so simple to use that even his mother could use it. For this, he needs access to the latest models and research findings as well as a deeper understanding of security issues.
“What I want is to change the world, not to build a large company. Collaboration with OpenAI is the fastest way to make this accessible to everyone.”
OpenClaw Remains Open Source
The OpenClaw project is to be transferred to a foundation and remain an open-source project. OpenAI has already pledged support and is sponsoring the project. The platform is to remain a place for developers and users who value data control and want to support different models and providers.
Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI, commented on the collaboration with praise. He described Steinberger as a “genius with many amazing ideas about the future of highly intelligent agents.” The development of personal agents will quickly become a core part of OpenAI’s product offerings. Altman also emphasized the importance of open source for a multi-agent future, which is why OpenAI will continue to support OpenClaw as a foundation.
Decision-Making in San Francisco
Steinberger spent last week in San Francisco, where he held discussions with leading AI laboratories. Access to researchers and unpublished studies inspired him at every level. After conversations with various organizations, it became clear to him that OpenAI best shared the common vision and offered the freedom to continue developing OpenClaw.
The anecdote involving Anthropic is also interesting here: a few weeks ago, they threatened legal action if Steinberger did not change the original name Clawdbot (based on “Claude,” Anthropic’s AI model). This then became Moltbot and finally OpenClaw. Before renaming it OpenClaw, Steinberger asked Sam Altman if this was okay, and he agreed.
