OpenAI recruits Peter Steinberger, OpenClaw architect, to build new personal agents

CALIFORNIA: Peter Steinberger, the developer behind the viral personal assistant OpenClaw, has officially joined OpenAI. He has been tasked with leading the development of the next generation of personal AI agents, focusing on systems that can perform complex, real-world tasks autonomously.

OpenAI chief executive Sam Altman announced the appointment on X, confirming that Steinberger’s expertise will be central to the company’s future agent strategy.

Steinberger’s assistant has recently gained significant attention for its capabilities, which include managing calendars, booking flights, and even interacting with other AI assistants on a dedicated social network. The project went through two rapid name changes before settling on its current branding, OpenClaw. Initially, it was called Clawdbot, but the name was dropped due to legal concerns from Anthropic over its similarity to their “Claude” model. It was briefly renamed Moltbot before Steinberger finalized the OpenClaw name.

In a blog post explaining his move, Steinberger stated that while he could have built OpenClaw into an independent corporation, the prospect did not interest him. He noted that his primary ambition is to change the world through technology rather than managing a large business. Joining OpenAI, he explained, is the most efficient way to bring this technology to a global audience.

Despite Steinberger moving to a corporate role, the OpenClaw project will not disappear. Sam Altman clarified that OpenClaw will transition into a foundation as an open-source project. OpenAI has committed to providing ongoing support for the project to ensure it remains available to the developer community.