The success of a project such as OpenClaw usually ends with setting up your own company and fighting for millions of dollars from investors. Peter Steinberger, however, chose a completely different path. Instead of building his own empire, the AI assistant creator decided to join the OpenAI team. This decision says a lot about how the balance of power in the artificial intelligence industry is changing today.
Steinberger openly admits that the role of CEO, business management and fundraising simply do not interest him. He is a flesh-and-blood engineer, and his goal is simple, yet ambitious: he wants to create a digital assistant so easy to use that even his mother can use it without a problem. He quickly realises that to achieve this, he needs a background that cannot be built alone in a garage.
Key to this decision was access to technology. During discussions with the San Francisco labs, it became clear that only the major players had the models and security standards necessary to create a secure tool for a mass audience. For OpenAI, this transfer is also a strategic victory. Altman himself has confirmed that Steinberger will handle the development of the next generation of personal assistants. This suggests that the ChatGPT developers want to move as quickly as possible from chatbots that we just talk to, to agents that can perform specific tasks for us.
Significantly, Steinberger’s move to the giant does not mean the end of OpenClaw. The project will not be shut down internally within the corporation. Instead, a special foundation is being set up, which will be financially supported by OpenAI. This will ensure that the tool remains free and open to the developer community. It’s a clever move that allows OpenAI to draw innovation from the open source community and build a good relationship with independent developers while keeping tabs on technology development.
