OpenAI moved to strengthen its front in personal agents by hiring developer Peter Steinberger, who created the open AI agent "OpenClaw."
Sam Altman, OpenAI chief executive officer (CEO), revealed Steinberger's addition on X on the 15th (local time) and said he will lead development of next-generation personal agents.
Altman also laid out a direction to keep the OpenClaw project open source. Steinberger likewise said OpenClaw will be run in a foundation format and that OpenAI will continue to support it. This is seen as a signal to pursue an open pillar for expanding the agent ecosystem in parallel with competition in closed products.
OpenClaw is a tool designed so AI can read the screen and operate the mouse and keyboard on behalf of users to handle practical tasks such as processing email, managing schedules, and checking flights. Its strength is integration with messengers such as WhatsApp, Slack, and iMessage. The project quickly went mainstream after changing to its current name following Clawdbot and Moltbot.
The hire is interpreted as a move by OpenAI to pick up speed in its battle for agent leadership with Anthropic and Google. According to foreign media reports, Steinberger is likely to focus inside OpenAI on advancing personal agents. If combined with ChatGPT's hundreds of millions of users, expansion of the OpenClaw ecosystem is expected to accelerate further.