OpenAI CEO Sam Altman has announced that the creator of the viral AI agent OpenClaw is joining the company.
According to Reuters, Altman said on Sunday that the founder of OpenClaw, is joining OpenAI, and the open-source bot is becoming a foundation.
"Peter Steinberger is joining OpenAI to drive the next generation of personal agents," Altman said in a post on X, adding "OpenClaw will live in a foundation as an open source project that OpenAI will continue to support."
OpenClaw, formerly known as Clawdbot or Moltbot, is what fans describe as an assistant that can stay on top of emails, deal with insurers, check in for flights and perform myriad other tasks.
OpenClaw has had a viral rise since it was first introduced in November, receiving more than 100,000 stars on code repository GitHub and drawing 2 million visitors in a single week, according to a blog post by Steinberger.
"It’s always been important to me that OpenClaw stays open source and given the freedom to flourish. Ultimately, I felt OpenAI was the best place to continue pushing on my vision and expand its reach," Steinberger posted in a blog on Sunday.
OpenClaw's growing popularity has attracted scrutiny, with China's industry ministry warning the open-source AI agent could pose significant security risks when improperly configured and expose users to cyberattacks and data breaches.
