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OpenAI hires OpenClaw creator Peter Steinberger for agents

Kagi News | 2026-02-16 07:18 UTC | source

🤖 OpenAI has hired Austrian developer Peter Steinberger, the creator of OpenClaw, to help “drive the next generation of personal agents,” according to OpenAI CEO Sam Altman and Steinberger’s own announcement 2101. OpenClaw is an open-source agent system that people use to automate tasks across apps—like email triage, coding chores, and shopping—helping spark a recent wave of interest in “agentic” AI beyond the usual prompt-and-response chatbot pattern 27.

Steinberger said OpenClaw will move to an independent foundation and “stay open and independent” 2. The hire also shows how competitive the race to build practical personal agents has become; Engadget reported that Steinberger also spoke with Meta about joining, and cited a report saying the interest was tied more to OpenClaw’s community attention than to its codebase 2.

OpenClaw’s rapid rise has also come with a string of name changes; Silicon Republic reported it was formerly known as “Clawd,” a play on Anthropic’s Claude 8.

The OpenClaw logo is displayed in a photo illustration in Ontario, Canada, on February 5, 2026.
The OpenClaw logo is displayed in a photo illustration in Ontario, Canada, on February 5, 2026. — Thomas Fuller/NurPhoto via Getty Images

Sources

  1. Creator of Viral AI Tool OpenClaw Joins OpenAI [pcmag.com] (2026-02-16)
  2. OpenAI has hired the developer behind AI agent OpenClaw [engadget.com] (2026-02-16)
  3. OpenAI Just Hired the OpenClaw Guy, and Now You Have to Learn Who He Is [gizmodo.com] (2026-02-16)
  4. Sam Altman announces OpenClaw founder Peter Steinberger joining OpenAI [firstpost.com] (2026-02-16)
  5. OpenAI hires OpenClaw founder Peter Steinberger, transitions project to independent foundation [digitimes.com] (2026-02-16)
  6. OpenAI Just Hired the Man Behind Viral OpenClaw AI Agent [androidheadlines.com] (2026-02-16)
  7. Peter Steinberger joins OpenAI [thenextweb.com] (2026-02-16)
  8. OpenClaw founder joins OpenAI to create next-gen personal agents [siliconrepublic.com] (2026-02-16)
  9. OpenClaw Founder Peter Steinberger Joins OpenAI [servethehome.com] (2026-02-16)
  10. OpenClaw founder Peter Steinberger joins OpenAI [mashable.com] (2026-02-16)

Highlights

  1. Builder backstory: Steinberger wrote that he’s “a builder at heart” and has already done the “creating-a-company game,” pointing to his prior document-software business Nutrient (formerly PSPDFKit) as a reason he chose to join OpenAI instead of turning OpenClaw into a standalone company 10.
  2. Viral adoption: Engadget reported that OpenClaw reached about 196,000 GitHub stars and roughly 2 million weekly visitors—attention that outlets said helped spark interest from big companies 2.
OpenAI CEO Sam Altman.
OpenAI CEO Sam Altman. — AFP

Perspectives

Sam Altman (OpenAI): Altman said Steinberger will help “drive the next generation of personal agents,” and described him as having “amazing ideas” about smart agents working together 2.

Peter Steinberger: Steinberger said his goal is “to build an agent that even my mum can use,” and said joining OpenAI is the fastest way to get there because it lets him focus on building rather than turning OpenClaw into a large standalone company 10.

Implicator.AI (reported by Engadget): The outlet said both OpenAI and Meta made offers in the “billions,” and claimed the draw was OpenClaw’s momentum and visibility more than its underlying codebase 2.