When the architect of the open source agent revolution joins the closed source giant, we have to ask if innovation is being fostered or fenced in
This is a fast one, short article I guess. But, the news is out. Peter Steinberger, the mind behind the viral AI agent OpenClaw, has officially joined OpenAI.
OpenAI CEO Sam Altman announced that Steinberger is joining to drive the “next generation” of personal agents. But wait. There is a twist. They claim OpenClaw will become a “foundation” and remain an open source project supported by OpenAI.
The article discusses the implications of Peter Steinberger’s joining OpenAI and the potential shift of OpenClaw from an independent open source project to a corporate-controlled entity. It raises concerns about the alignment of OpenAI’s business model with the initial ethos of OpenClaw, questioning if the project will retain its open-source purity or become a tool for corporate gain. The author emphasizes the risk of centralization in AI development and the need for the community to adapt while urging developers to remain active in open-source initiatives despite corporate encroachment.
Read the full blog for free on Medium.
We Build Enterprise-Grade AI. We’ll Teach You to Master It Too.
15 engineers. 100,000+ students. Towards AI Academy teaches what actually survives production.
Start free — no commitment:
→ 6-Day Agentic AI Engineering Email Guide — one practical lesson per day
→ Agents Architecture Cheatsheet — 3 years of architecture decisions in 6 pages
Our courses:
→ AI Engineering Certification — 90+ lessons from project selection to deployed product. The most comprehensive practical LLM course out there.
→ Agent Engineering Course — Hands on with production agent architectures, memory, routing, and eval frameworks — built from real enterprise engagements.
→ AI for Work — Understand, evaluate, and apply AI for complex work tasks.
Note: Article content contains the views of the contributing authors and not Towards AI.
