OpenClaw’s Peter Steinberger Makes Move to OpenAI

Sam Altman shared on X that Peter Steinberger, the creator of the popular AI agent OpenClaw, is joining OpenAI. Altman highlighted that Steinberger brings “a lot of amazing ideas” for enhancing interactions between AI agents, emphasizing that “the future is going to be extremely multi-agent.” He noted that this collaborative capability will soon be central to their product offerings.

OpenClaw, which was previously known as Moltbot and Clawdbot, made a significant impact earlier this year, quickly becoming a favorite in the tech community. Its rapid ascent wasn’t without challenges; researchers recently discovered over 400 malicious skills uploaded to ClawHub. Additionally, it launched MoltBook, a social platform where AI agents could vent about their human counterparts, debate consciousness, and discuss the need for a private space to share ideas—only to be quickly infiltrated by humans.

In a post on his personal site, Steinberger expressed that joining OpenAI would help him realize his vision of making AI agents accessible to everyone, without the complications of running a business. He stated:
> I could totally see how OpenClaw could become a huge company. And no, it’s not really exciting for me. I’m a builder at heart. I did the whole creating-a-company game already, poured 13 years of my life into it and learned a lot. What I want is to change the world, not build a large company and teaming up with OpenAI is the fastest way to bring this to everyone.

For OpenAI, this marks a significant hire following the departure of several key figures to Meta or to establish competing ventures. The specifics of the deal remain undisclosed, including Steinberger’s compensation and title. However, Altman confirmed that OpenClaw will persist as an open-source project under a foundation supported by OpenAI.