OpenClaw creator Peter Steinberger joins OpenAI as OpenClaw shifts to a foundation

Peter Steinberger, the developer behind OpenClaw, announced in a blog post that he is joining OpenAI to work on “bringing agents to everyone.”^[1]

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman said on X that OpenClaw “will live in a foundation” as an open-source project that OpenAI will continue to support. Altman noted that “the future is going to be extremely multi-agent and it's important to us to support open source as part of that.”

Context and background

OpenClaw is an open-source personal AI assistant designed to run on a user’s own machine and communicate through messaging apps such as WhatsApp, Telegram, Slack, and Signal.^[2]

The project drew rapid attention in late January after a run of name changes and a surge in community adoption. As of writing, the project has over 197,000 stars on GitHub.^[3]

Key details

Steinberger wrote on Feb. 14 that he is joining OpenAI and that “OpenClaw will move to a foundation and stay open and independent.”

Steinberger’s post also states that OpenAI already sponsors the project, and that OpenClaw’s community is expected to remain a place that supports multiple models and companies.

Steinberger’s move puts the project’s future governance in focus. He’s framed the foundation plan as a way to keep OpenClaw open and independent, while Altman said OpenAI will continue supporting the open-source project as it transitions into that foundation. 

Entrepreneur and angel investor Dave Morin, posted on X that he’s been working with Peter on the OpenClaw Foundation “for weeks”.

A foundation structure would provide a stable home for open-source stewardship, but details of OpenClaw’s foundation governance and asset ownership have not yet been described publicly.