OpenAI chief Sam Altman on Saturday announced that Peter Steinberger, creator of the popular open-source AI project OpenClaw, is joining the company to help shape the next wave of personal AI agents.
In a post on X, Altman described Steinberger as “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.” He added that Steinberger will “drive the next generation of personal agents” and that such systems are expected to become core to OpenAI’s product offerings.
What is OpenClaw?
OpenClaw is an open-source artificial intelligence program developed by Steinberger, previously known as Clawdbot and Moltbot. Since launching in November, it has built a strong following for its ability to operate autonomously.
The tool gained attention for handling practical tasks such as clearing inboxes, making restaurant reservations and checking in for flights. Users can also integrate it with messaging platforms like WhatsApp and Slack to manage the agent directly through chat interfaces.
Altman said OpenClaw will continue as an open-source project under a foundation structure, with OpenAI supporting it. “The future is going to be extremely multi-agent and it’s important to us to support open source as part of that,” he noted.
Why join OpenAI?
In a blog post titled “OpenClaw, OpenAI and the future”, Steinberger explained that he decided to join OpenAI to work at the frontier of AI research and development.
He said OpenClaw’s success opened up “an endless array of possibilities,” but his broader goal is to build an AI agent that “even my mum can use.” Achieving that, he wrote, requires deeper research, stronger safety frameworks and access to cutting-edge AI models.
“What I want is to change the world, not build a large company,” Steinberger wrote, adding that teaming up with OpenAI is the fastest way to bring advanced personal agents to a wider audience.
He also emphasised that OpenClaw will remain open source. According to Steinberger, OpenAI has committed to supporting the project while he works to establish it as a formal foundation. The aim, he said, is to create a space for developers and researchers who want greater control over their data and broader model support.
Security concerns around personal agents
Steinberger’s move comes amid growing scrutiny of autonomous AI agents. According to reports, one OpenClaw user recently claimed the system “went rogue” and sent hundreds of messages after being granted access to iMessage.
Cybersecurity experts have warned that such tools pose risks because they combine access to private data, external communication capabilities and exposure to untrusted content — a combination one researcher described as a “lethal trifecta.”
As OpenAI pushes toward more advanced multi-agent systems, safety, governance and user trust are likely to remain central to the debate.
