OpenClaw creator Peter Steinberger joins OpenAI

OpenClaw — previously known as Clawdbot and Moltbot — was launched last month and quickly gained momentum online. Its rapid rise has been fueled in part by social media buzz, as both consumers and businesses increasingly adopt AI systems capable of autonomously completing tasks, making decisions and taking actions with minimal human supervision.

In a post on X, Altman said Steinberger would join OpenAI “to drive the next generation of personal agents.”

“He is a genius with a lot of amazing ideas about the future of very smart agents interacting with each other to do very useful things for people,” Altman wrote, adding that such systems are expected to become central to OpenAI’s product lineup.

No financial details of the move were disclosed. However, competition for top AI talent has intensified across the industry. In May, OpenAI acquired the AI hardware startup io, founded by former Apple designer Jony Ive, for more than $6 billion. Rival tech giants, including Meta and Google, have also committed billions of dollars to recruit leading AI engineers and researchers.

OpenAI, most recently valued at $500 billion and aiming to increase that figure, is facing mounting competition in the generative AI sector. Rivals such as Anthropic are gaining traction, particularly among enterprise clients seeking AI tools to automate complex business functions.

Anthropic’s Claude model has recently drawn attention, especially with the rollout of Claude Code and the introduction of Claude Opus 4.6, which the company says offers improved coding performance, longer sustained task execution and higher-quality professional output. Earlier this week, Anthropic closed a fundraising round that valued the company at $380 billion.

OpenClaw has also seen rapid adoption in China, where it can be paired with locally developed language models such as DeepSeek. The system can be configured to operate with Chinese messaging platforms through customized integrations. Chinese search engine Baidu plans to offer users of its primary smartphone app direct access to OpenClaw, a spokesperson told CNBC.

Despite its growing popularity, some researchers have raised concerns about the platform’s open-source nature. They warn that allowing users to freely modify the system could create cybersecurity risks and open the door to potential misuse.