Peter Steinberger, the creator of OpenClaw (formerly known as Clawdbot and Moltbot), is joining OpenAI to lead the development of the next generation of personal AI agents. # Sam Altman announced on X that Steinberger will “drive the next generation of personal agents” at OpenAI. In a blog post, Steinberger explained his decision: “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.” ## OpenClaw’s Journey OpenClaw achieved viral popularity over the past few weeks with its promise to be the “AI that actually does things” — managing calendars, booking flights, and even joining a social network of AI assistants. The project went through several name changes: - Originally Clawdbot (named after Claude) - Changed to Moltbot after Anthropic threatened legal action - Finally renamed to OpenClaw ## What’s Next for OpenClaw Altman confirmed that OpenClaw will “live in a foundation as an open source project that OpenAI will continue to support.” This marks a significant shift for the project — from a potential startup to an open-source initiative backed by OpenAI. The move reflects OpenAI’s belief in an “extremely multi-agent” AI future, where multiple AI assistants collaborate to help users accomplish complex tasks. ## Industry Impact This hiring represents OpenAI’s strategic push into personal AI agents — a space where startups like OpenClaw have been gaining traction. By bringing in experienced developers from the open-source community, Big AI companies are racing to dominate the personal assistant market. — This is a developing story. Check back for updates.