OpenClaw creator Peter Steinberger joins OpenAI

Gut: Another open source founder gets vacuumed into Big Tech and everyone pretends the project won't die on the vine.

Look, Steinberger's a good engineer—but he just left OpenClaw. Who's maintaining it now? OpenAI isn't. So either the community steps up (they won't, not at scale) or it quietly rots. The 'open source forever' pledge is the consolation prize for shareholders, not developers.

This is how AI talent consolidation works. If you're building on OpenClaw, you're taking on acquisition risk whether the code stays licensed open or not.