# Peter Steinberger

Creator, OpenClaw. TIME100 AI 2026, Innovators. He made OpenClaw, the open-source personal AI agent that became GitHub's most-starred software project. ([steipete.me](https://steipete.me/about))

- Born: 1986-05-22, Austria ([en.wikipedia.org](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_Steinberger_(programmer)))
- Education: BSc, Computer and information sciences, TU Wien, 2012 ([linkedin.com](https://www.linkedin.com/in/steipete))
- Career: OpenAI (Member of Technical Staff, 2026 to now); OpenClaw (Creator, 2025–2026); Amantus Machina (Founder, 2025–2026); Founders of Europe (Co-founder, 2022–2026); PSPDFKit (Founder and CEO, 2010–2021); Scribd (Senior iOS Developer, 2010–2011); LOYTEC electronics (Software Engineer, 2006–2009) ([linkedin.com](https://www.linkedin.com/in/steipete), [reuters.com](https://www.reuters.com/business/openclaw-founder-steinberger-joins-openai-open-source-bot-becomes-foundation-2026-02-15/), [en.wikipedia.org](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_Steinberger_(programmer)))
- TIME profile: https://time.com/collection/time100-ai/2026/peter-steinberger/
- Profile: https://www.autumn.ai/resources/most-influential-people-in-ai/peter-steinberger

- OpenClaw started as a weekend hack called WhatsApp Relay, then passed 100,000 GitHub stars and drew 2 million visitors in a single week. ([openclaw.ai](https://openclaw.ai/blog/introducing-openclaw))
- The project was first named Clawd, a pun on Claude with a claw, until Anthropic's legal team asked him to rename it. ([openclaw.ai](https://openclaw.ai/blog/introducing-openclaw))
- Says both Mark Zuckerberg and Sam Altman made him offers; he picked OpenAI in February 2026 and moved OpenClaw into a foundation. ([businessinsider.com](https://www.businessinsider.com/openais-openclaw-hire-sparks-praise-memes-rivalry-chatter-2026-2))
- Bootstrapped his PDF software company PSPDFKit to a nine-figure exit, then retired before AI pulled him back in. ([steipete.me](https://steipete.me/about))
- As a student he started his university's first Mac and iOS developer course, run with Apple Austria, and tutored teams for over two years. ([linkedin.com](https://www.linkedin.com/in/steipete))
- Says his next mission is to build an agent that even his mum can use. ([steipete.me](https://steipete.me/posts/2026/openclaw))