The Clawdbot / Moltbot / OpenClaw Fiasco: What’s Changed Since Peter Steinberger Joined OpenAI — and What Comes Next

Update to: The Clawdbot / Moltbot / OpenClaw Fiasco – Part 3

The Week in One Minute

OpenClaw is still an open-source project, but its structure has evolved. Since Peter Steinberger joined OpenAI, the project is expected to operate under a foundation model, with OpenAI providing support rather than turning it into a closed product.

Development has not slowed. Recent releases show steady work on usability improvements and security hardening, particularly around channel integrations like Discord and safer default configurations.

Security remains the main concern. Reports continue to highlight malicious ‘skills,’ prompt-injection attacks, and even real-world credential theft tied to agent configurations.

For home users, the safest mindset is simple: running OpenClaw is closer to handing someone your unlocked phone than installing a typical app. The permissions you grant matter more than anything else.

What Changed After Peter Joined OpenAI?

The biggest shift is structural. OpenClaw is not being absorbed into OpenAI as a closed product. Instead, it is expected to continue as an open-source project under a foundation, with OpenAI acting as a major supporter.

That distinction matters. OpenAI will likely have significant influence given the founder’s new role and backing, but the intent appears to be continued openness rather than paywalling or shutting the project down.

Put simply: OpenClaw remains community software, but it now has serious institutional support behind it.

Development Signals

Recent GitHub activity shows continued releases, including improvements to interactive prompts in Discord, making agent interactions feel more like real applications.

Security-related commits include stricter defaults and technical protections such as header hardening. A published advisory also addressed a subtle issue where inter-session messages could be misinterpreted as user instructions.

The overall direction suggests a shift from experimental energy toward something more stable and production-ready.

What’s Likely Next

OpenClaw continues to position itself as a personal AI assistant that runs on your own devices, works across messaging platforms, and feels local and always available.

Near-term priorities appear clear: reducing risk and improving usability.

Safer Skills Ecosystem

Marketplace ‘skills’ have drawn criticism due to the potential for malicious instructions hidden in helpful add-ons. Expect stronger scanning, clearer warnings, and tighter publishing standards.

Protection Against Agent Manipulation

Agents can be tricked by the content they read—emails, documents, or web pages. Future updates will likely strengthen safeguards around instruction provenance and tool execution.

Simpler Onboarding

Documentation already points toward guided setup experiences and automated diagnostics. Expect fewer manual steps and fewer opportunities to accidentally expose services to the internet.

Multi-Agent Direction

OpenAI leadership has emphasized a future where agents interact with one another. OpenClaw’s open ecosystem and OpenAI’s internal agent initiatives will likely influence each other over time.

Why This Matters for OpenAI

OpenAI is clearly moving beyond chat interfaces toward agents that take actions on behalf of users. Supporting OpenClaw offers both talent acquisition and a real-world testing ground for how people actually use agents.

The benefit is faster product learning and credibility in the open-source community. The risk is reputational: if OpenClaw generates negative security headlines, OpenAI may still feel the impact.

What This Means for Users

OpenClaw’s power comes from what it can access: messages, files, accounts, tools, and automation workflows. That same power creates risk.

Recent reporting includes companies restricting internal use due to privacy concerns, infostealer malware extracting configuration secrets, and continued marketplace abuse.

Practical Advice

If you don’t truly need it yet, waiting is reasonable. The ecosystem is still moving quickly, and attackers are paying attention.

If you do use it, isolate it. Run it under a separate user account or device, avoid connecting primary email accounts initially, and apply strict least-privilege principles.

Treat third-party skills cautiously. Only install from trusted sources, and assume some may be unsafe.

Finally, protect the control plane. Exposing dashboards or services casually to the internet is how experimental setups become security incidents.

Alternatives for Home Users

Many users want an assistant that takes action. In practice, most can achieve much of that value with lower risk by combining a mainstream assistant for thinking tasks with built-in operating system automation.

Others may prefer hosted agent tools where isolation, logging, and updates are centrally managed, accepting the privacy tradeoffs of cloud services.

Another approach is to use purpose-built tools rather than one agent controlling everything—dedicated email clients, password managers, and file search tools remain more predictable and secure.

Bottom Line

OpenClaw is transitioning from a viral experiment into a more structured, foundation-backed project with increasing focus on security.

OpenAI, meanwhile, is shifting from chat-first products toward agent-first systems.

The project continues to move quickly, but risk levels remain high enough that cautious users should avoid broad, all-access configurations.