Is OpenClaw Closed?
OpenAI just hired OpenClaw’s creator. Can the promised "independent foundation" really save this open-source dream from corporate interests?
Well, the past few months have been pretty wild in the world of autonomous AI agents, haven’t they? Late last year, OpenClaw was released, promising to be a personal AI assistant that actually does something. Obviously, people have an appetite for this type of software that is not being met by commercial applications, because OpenClaw’s popularity has exploded. So much so that the primary platform people run it on — a Mac mini — is getting to be hard to come by.
Easy come, easy go
And now the story has taken an unexpected turn: OpenAI has just hired the developer behind it. OpenAI CEO Sam Altman announced that Peter Steinberger, creator of OpenClaw, is joining the company. Altman called him a “genius,” adding that the technology he pioneered will be “core” to OpenAI’s future products.
It doesn’t seem likely that Steinberger is being brought in to polish chatbots — he’s reportedly leading development of the “next generation of personal agents.” In other words, OpenAI appears to be shifting from systems that answer questions toward systems that do things: managing email, coordinating schedules, interacting with services, and generally acting on behalf of the user.
Where do we go from here?
That’s all well and good, but the question remains: what is going to happen to OpenClaw after this shake-up? We were just getting to know each other, and now this? Many see it as a betrayal to the open source community. However, OpenAI has attempted to calm fears of a shutdown by promising that the project will be moved into an independent open-source foundation, with OpenAI pledging ongoing support. That decision could preserve the grassroots developer ecosystem that made the tool famous in the first place.
It could. But is that enough? With OpenAI presumably wanting to sell us products that do OpenClaw-like things in the future, just how supportive are they going to be? Also, it is not clear if Steinberger will be involved at all after snagging the new role. What comes next? Your guess is as good as mine, but it doesn’t look like it’s going to be business as usual for OpenClaw moving forward.