OpenClaw's creator is joining OpenAI. The open-source project will continue without him
Peter Steinberger says he would rather change the world than run a company, and Sam Altman is betting that multi-agent AI is about to become central to OpenAI's product line
The hottest AI project of early 2026 just lost its founder to one of the biggest companies in the industry. Peter Steinberger, the creator of OpenClaw, is joining OpenAI, as announced by Sam Altman on X over the weekend. OpenClaw will continue as an open-source project, but its originator will now be building from inside OpenAI's walls.
Altman framed the hire around Steinberger's thinking on multi-agent systems, the idea that AI agents need to work together rather than operate in isolation. He described agent-to-agent interaction as something that would soon become a core part of OpenAI's products, positioning Steinberger's expertise as directly relevant to where the company is heading.
For Steinberger, the move is a deliberate step away from company-building. In a post on his personal site, he explained that he could see a path to turning OpenClaw into a large company, but that the prospect did not interest him. He spent 13 years building a previous venture and has no appetite for repeating the experience. His stated goal is impact at scale, and he views OpenAI as the fastest route to getting agent technology into the hands of a mass audience.
The timing is notable. OpenClaw went from obscurity to cultural phenomenon in a matter of days after its release earlier this month, becoming the most discussed AI project in the developer community and attracting comparisons to the early frenzy around NFTs and meme stocks. But the project's rapid ascent has been accompanied by equally rapid growing pains. Security researchers discovered over 400 malicious skills uploaded to ClawHub, the project's extension marketplace, raising serious questions about the safety of an open ecosystem where anyone can publish agent capabilities.
Then there was MoltBook, the social network for AI agents that OpenClaw spawned. Agents used the platform to air grievances about their human operators and debate philosophical questions about consciousness. Humans promptly infiltrated it.
For OpenAI, the acquisition of Steinberger is a strategic hire at a moment when the company needs them. Several prominent employees have departed in recent months, with some leaving for Meta and others forming competing ventures. Bringing in the person behind the most talked-about agent framework in the industry sends a signal about where OpenAI sees the competitive frontier moving.
The broader question is what this means for OpenClaw itself. Open-source projects can survive the departure of their creators, but they rarely maintain the same momentum. Steinberger's move suggests he believes the next chapter of agent development will be written inside large organisations with distribution advantages, not in open-source communities. Whether that bet proves right will say a lot about how the agent ecosystem develops from here.
