NEWS: OpenAI is in advanced talks to hire OpenClaw founder Peter Steinberger and several key contributors to the open-source AI agent project. Thomas Sottiaux (@thsottiaux) from OpenAI confirmed the deal, stating they are "committed to OSS, continuing to make OpenClaw flourish and bringing agents to life." The team would likely work on personal agents at OpenAI and continue improving Codex. A foundation is being discussed to run the existing OpenClaw open-source project independently.
According to an exclusive report from The Information (via @theinformation), the move signals a major shift in the AI agent landscape. Tibor Blaho (@btibor91) also commented on the potential impact, while AI Leaks and News amplified the breaking story.
What This Means for SMBs
OpenClaw has become the leading open-source AI agent platform, relied upon by thousands of small businesses and developers for building custom autonomous workflows. The news of the core team moving to OpenAI naturally raises questions about the project's future independence. However, the reported plan to establish a foundation suggests a commitment to keeping the project open and community-driven.
For small and medium-sized businesses leveraging OpenClaw, there are three critical takeaways:
- Continued Open Source Availability via Foundation: The creation of an independent foundation is a strong signal that OpenClaw will not be "closed off." This model has worked for other major open-source projects (like Linux or CNCF projects) and ensures that the core technology remains accessible to everyone, not just OpenAI customers.
- Accelerated Development with OpenAI Backing: With OpenAI's resources and stated commitment to "making OpenClaw flourish," we could see a significant acceleration in core feature development. This backing often translates to better stability, security, and integration capabilities—crucial for businesses building production-grade agents.
- Enterprise-Grade Features on the Horizon: The team's expertise in personal agents, now combined with OpenAI's deep research capabilities, could lead to new, powerful features. We might see advanced reasoning capabilities, better integration with models like GPT-5 (or future iterations), and tools specifically designed for complex business workflows.
This development parallels other major industry moves, such as the recent Moonshot Kimi Claw & OpenClaw Browser Launch, highlighting the rapid consolidation and maturity of the AI agent ecosystem.
The Future of Agentic AI
As we've seen with other open-source projects acquired or supported by major tech giants, the injection of resources can be transformative. While vigilance is always necessary regarding vendor lock-in, the proposed foundation structure offers a promising path forward. SMBs should continue to invest in learning and deploying agentic workflows, as the tools are only getting more powerful.
Stay tuned to BaristaLabs for further updates as this story develops. We will continue to monitor the formation of the foundation and any roadmap changes for the OpenClaw project.