AI Hype OpenClaw: OpenAI signs Austrian developer
Peter Steinberger developed OpenClaw, a powerful AI agent for personal hardware. Now he works for OpenAI. OpenClaw remains open source.
The developer of the AI bot OpenClaw is joining OpenAI and will work there on "the next generation of personal agents." This is how OpenAI CEO Sam Altman puts it, and Steinberger himself explains that he is very much looking forward to it. OpenClaw itself is to remain open source and be expanded into a place "for thinkers, hackers, and people who want to manage their own data." To this end, the Austrian is working on founding a foundation around the AI bot, according to his own statement. His next mission is now to "build an AI agent that my mother can use," Steinberger writes. This requires major changes and much more thought about security, he admits. OpenAI is primarily known for the AI chatbot ChatGPT.
AI-programmed AI bot
There has been a hype around OpenClaw for weeks, but it is merely a better hobby project by the Austrian Steinberger, who used "Vibe Coding" for it. This means the code was created by an AI text generator, with the instructions coming from Steinberger. It is a powerful AI agent that is installed on one's own hardware and has full access there. It can be remotely controlled via a messenger like Telegram and perform any tasks automatically and autonomously. For example, it can install or delete software and also execute it. The technology was originally called "Clawdbot," was renamed "Moltbot" due to the name similarity to Anthropic's AI Claude, and is now operating under OpenClaw.
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Regarding the hiring, Sam Altman calls the Austrian "a genius with many great ideas for the future of very intelligent agents." They are intended to interact with each other to accomplish useful things. At OpenAI, it is assumed that the technology will quickly become a core part of their own products. In a short post on X, however, Altman, unlike Steinberger, does not address the security issues. The technology requires full access to the devices on which it is installed, which entails enormous risks. Steinberger had also recently stated that the project costs him 10.000 to 20.000 US dollars per month, yet he had rejected takeover offers. OpenAI has therefore won the bid because the openness of OpenClaw was promised.
(mho)
