Peter Steinberger, creator of the open-source AI agent framework OpenClaw, joins OpenAI to work on bringing AI agents to mainstream users. OpenClaw will transition to an independent foundation while OpenAI sponsors the project.
Steinberger built OpenClaw as a personal project that unexpectedly gained massive adoption. The framework attracted 196,000 GitHub stars and 2 million weekly visitors within three months. Both OpenAI and Meta made offers reportedly valued in the billions to bring Steinberger on board.
According to Marcus Schuler at Implicator.ai, the companies competed not for OpenClaw’s codebase but for its adoption metrics. Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg personally tested OpenClaw and provided direct feedback to Steinberger during a WhatsApp call. Despite this hands-on engagement, Steinberger chose OpenAI for its distribution infrastructure and access to 300 million weekly ChatGPT users.
Steinberger previously sold his PDF tools company PSPDFKit for over $100 million after 13 years. He states he wants to build products that reach everyone without managing a large company again.
Steinberger commits to keeping OpenClaw open source through a foundation model, comparing the structure to Chrome and Chromium.
Sources: Peter Steinberger, Implicator.ai
