OpenClaw founder Steinberger joins OpenAI, open-source bot becomes foundation | Technology News
2 min readFeb 16, 2026 09:34 AM Peter Steinberger, the founder of OpenClaw, is joining OpenAI, and the open-source bot is becoming a foundation, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman said on Sunday.
“Peter Steinberger is joining OpenAI to drive the next generation of personal agents,” Altman said in a post on X, adding “OpenClaw will live in a foundation as an open source project that OpenAI will continue to support.”
OpenClaw, formerly known as Clawdbot or Moltbot, is what fans describe as an assant that can stay on top of emails, deal with insurers, check in for flights and perform myriad other tasks.
OpenClaw has had a viral rise since it was first introduced in November, receiving more than 100,000 stars on code repository GitHub and drawing 2 million visitors in a single week, according to a blog post Steinberger.
OpenClaw’s growing popularity has attracted scrutiny, with China’s industry minry warning the open-source AI agent could pose significant security risks when improperly configured and expose users to cyberattacks and data breaches.
“It’s always been important to me that OpenClaw stays open source and given the freedom to flourish. Ultimately, I felt OpenAI was the best place to continue pushing on my vision and expand its reach,” Steinberger posted in a blog on Sunday.
