By Euronews
Published on
The Austrian developer behind the viral AI personal assistant software OpenClaw is joining OpenAI.
Peter Steinberger built OpenClaw as an open source project designed to build AI assistants that “actually do things.”
Agents built through the platform can manage calendars, book flights, or join a social media network full of other AI assistants without human assistance. It also powered Moltbook, the controversial social media platform specifically built for AI bots.
Steinberger said he’s joining OpenAI because his next mission is to “build an agent that even my mum can use.”
“That’ll need a much broader change, a lot more thought on how to do it safely, and access to the very latest models and research,” Steinberger wrote on his website.
“Ultimately, I felt OpenAI was the best place to continue pushing on my vision and expand its reach,” he added.
Instead of turning OpenClaw into a company, Steinberger said it will be transitioned into a foundation, allowing the technology to remain open source and “given the freedom to flourish,” he added.
“I could totally see how OpenClaw could become a huge company, and no, it’s not really exciting for me,” he added. “What I want is to change the world, not build a large company.”
Sam Altman, OpenAI’s CEO, said on social media platform X that Steinberger will help the company build “the next generation of personal agents.”
“[Steinberger] is a genius with a lot of amazing ideas about the future of very smart agents interacting with each other to do very useful things for people,” Altman said, adding that agents will “quickly” become core to what OpenAI offers. He also stated that the company will support the new OpenClaw foundation.
The announcement comes just a week after OpenAI launched Frontier, a platform that helps businesses build, deploy and manage AI agents.
OpenAI claims its platform equips agents with capabilities similar to human “coworkers,” including hands-on learning through feedback.