Original Title: OpenClaw Creator Says US Can Learn From China’s AI Adoption
Original Author: Shirin Ghaffary, Bloomberg
Translated by: Peggy, BlockBeats

Editor’s Note: This article is a translation of Bloomberg’s interview with Peter Steinberger, founder of OpenClaw. After joining OpenAI, he is involved in promoting the development of next-generation AI agent technology. The direction of making AI not just answer questions, but able to invoke tools, collaborate across systems, and act continuously in environments is becoming a new competitive core of the industry.

In this interview, he discusses several key questions: What do the different adoption paths of OpenClaw in China and the US mean? How can AI agents be improved? How can secure collaboration be achieved between personal and work agents? How will OpenAI advance this technological direction?

The original text is as follows:

The original intention of OpenClaw is to automate tasks such as flight check-in and schedule management.

The creator of OpenClaw (who recently joined OpenAI) believes that more people should try using artificial intelligence themselves to learn from it and help society better prepare for this technology. However, before that…

You need to understand three things:

• OpenAI has stopped support for Sora and is gradually ending its collaboration with Disney.

• Apple plans to overhaul Siri with AI and introduce a new interface and “Ask Siri” button in iOS 27.

• Amazon has acquired Fauna Robotics to enter the consumer humanoid robot market.

Embracing AI Agents

After OpenClaw gained popularity for several months, the paths of the US and China in embracing cutting-edge artificial intelligence products have clearly diverged, and this difference may have far-reaching implications for the technological competition landscape between the two countries.

In China, an increasing number of people, from students and professionals to the elderly, are beginning to try using OpenClaw, with some companies even requiring employees to use the product. Although regulators have started to limit its application in state-owned enterprises and government agencies, China is overall becoming a large-scale experimental ground—allowing AI systems to gradually take over people’s digital lives.

In contrast, in the US, while OpenClaw (previously known as Moltbot and Clawdbot) has sparked widespread attention among developers and early users, it has not yet stirred up an equivalent wave of enthusiasm among the general public. Some American companies have even begun to restrict employee use of such AI agent tools due to safety concerns.

This starkly different market response has also caught the attention of OpenClaw’s founder.

“In the US, I feel that in some companies, if you use OpenClaw, you might get fired,” said Peter Steinberger, the tool’s developer and an Austrian software engineer. He has now joined OpenAI to work on AI agent-related technologies. “In China, many companies are quite the opposite—if you don’t use OpenClaw, you might get fired.”

This month, at the Baidu OpenClaw “Lobster Market” event held in Beijing, there were themed products on display.

Steinberger’s product was described by Jensen Huang (CEO of Nvidia) as “perhaps the most important software release in history.” However, he also admits that neither the US nor China has a perfect path. Although OpenClaw’s original intention is to automate tasks such as flight check-in and schedule management, he points out that there are still potential safety risks involved.

Note: Peter Steinberger is an Austrian software engineer and developer who gained attention for creating the open-source AI agent tool OpenClaw.

“But without a doubt, we can learn something from the faster adoption of new technologies or the acceptance of different risk preferences,” Steinberger told me in an interview at OpenAI’s San Francisco headquarters this week. “Ultimately, this technology is still too new, and the only way we can learn is to use it personally and try it out.”

In his new role at OpenAI, Steinberger will be involved in developing Codex, a programming tool that currently has over 2 million weekly users. On such a powerful platform, he is also aware that the market demands higher standards for product safety and stability, and errors must be minimized as much as possible.

In our conversation, Steinberger discussed how to improve AI agents, OpenAI’s future plans for this technology, and why he intends to keep OpenClaw as an open-source project supported by his new employer, planning to hand it over to an upcoming foundation for management. The following interview content has been moderately edited and organized without changing the original meaning.

Interview Transcript

Bloomberg: Sam Altman once called you a “genius” and said you would drive the development of the next generation of personal AI agents. What will this look like at OpenAI?

Steinberger: We are rapidly moving toward a future where everyone will have a personal agent for private life and a work agent for work. Through OpenClaw, I am actually building a “window to the future,” showcasing my ideal vision of the world. Of course, I also understand that no company can truly push it to the masses yet, because there are still some key issues that need to be addressed beforehand.

Bloomberg: What are those specific issues?

Steinberger: In that future, my agent needs to be able to communicate with your agent. For example, I work at OpenAI, using Codex for knowledge work, but sometimes I need to access data in my personal “claw.” Therefore, there must be a mechanism for my work agent to invoke my personal agent. At the same time, I must ensure that my personal agent does not disclose any information I consider too private; OpenAI must also ensure that internal company data is not brought back to my personal device.

Bloomberg: You should have noticed that at Meta Platforms, excessive use of agent tools by employees has caused problems, and now some companies are starting to impose stricter restrictions.

Steinberger: In the US, I feel that in some companies, if you use OpenClaw, you might get fired; while in China, many companies are quite the opposite—if you don’t use OpenClaw, you might get fired. They even showed me a form listing each employee’s name and a column for “What was automated today.” Companies are actively encouraging employees to think about how to improve efficiency tenfold.

Both approaches are not perfect, but we can certainly learn something from the faster adoption of new technologies and attempts with different risk preferences. Because this technology is too new, we can only understand it through continuous trial and error.

Even at Meta, a security researcher was publicly mocked on Twitter for raising related issues. I actually think that is quite brave. If everyone mocks these attempts, it will only discourage more people from speaking out.

Bloomberg: What do you think about the craze for OpenClaw in China? Many people are even lining up to experience it. Are you collaborating with Chinese companies?

Steinberger: At GTC, I have communicated with many companies, such as MiniMax, Kimi, and Tencent. I can really understand the current “frenzy” because I have gone through similar moments myself.

A year ago, when I first tried programming agents, they had about a 30% success rate, but just getting a little bit right would provide a strong dopamine feedback. At the same time, you realize that this will completely change the industry, and this is their “worst moment”; it can only get better from here. At that moment, I realized that I could almost build anything because everything had become faster.

Imagine if you are not a technical person but a small business owner who suddenly realizes: “It can read my emails, manage my schedule, write Google Docs, connect my home devices, check WhatsApp, handle customer service requests…” You would have the same epiphany that engineers have experienced over the past year.

During that time, I even had insomnia because the change was just so disruptive. I’m glad to be able to bring more people from different backgrounds closer to AI.

Bloomberg: OpenAI’s Codex has been growing rapidly recently. What do you think about the combination of Codex and OpenClaw?

Steinberger: One core issue we are currently facing is: how to help users understand that a product named “programming” is actually much more than programming.

If you look at it from a longer-term perspective, all prompts will become stronger because of programming capabilities. AI agents are smart enough to know their shortcomings and will compensate by writing code.

So, does the distinction between “what is a programming tool and what is not” even matter? This is also a conclusion we have drawn internally at OpenAI. In the future, this distinction will no longer be important, so ultimately it needs to be integrated into one.

Bloomberg: What would happen if agents could access all your files and run continuously?

Steinberger: This is actually a “how to explain to users” question. You can currently connect nearly everything in the ChatGPT application ecosystem, such as Slack, Google Docs, Notion, health data, etc. But the current challenge is how to make users truly understand: these capabilities are actually already available.

Another challenge is that if you are doing an open-source project, it can progress quickly because users are more forgiving, knowing that this is a preview version and not used for work data. But once it involves real work data, the problems are completely different, and it takes much longer to refine.

I am looking forward to being involved in solving these issues.

Bloomberg: How is the OpenClaw foundation progressing? Does OpenAI support it?

Steinberger: I try not to let OpenAI get too involved because this project needs to remain independent. The legal and organizational structure still needs a few weeks to be completed.

Currently, we have some great partners, such as NVIDIA, and we have communicated with Microsoft. ByteDance has already joined, and Tencent is also moving forward. I hope to maintain a “Swiss-style neutrality.”

Our goal is to spark more interest in AI and genuinely start using AI to think about problems. The most critical thing for the future is to get more people to spend more time understanding what AI can do, so that society as a whole is prepared. This is the best way to ensure a bright future.

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