Peter Steinberger, creator of the viral AI assistant OpenClaw (formerly Moltbot, originally Clawdbot), is facing what he describes as one of the hardest decisions of his life—but not for the reasons you might expect.
In a recent conversation with Lex Fridman, Steinberger revealed he’s in active acquisition negotiations with both Meta and OpenAI for his self-hosted AI agent platform. What makes the situation particularly striking isn’t just the competitive bidding between two AI giants, but the personal nature of the discussions and Steinberger’s remarkably candid approach to what would typically be a highly orchestrated corporate process.
An Unconventional First Call
Steinberger’s first interaction with Mark Zuckerberg set the tone for what would be an unusual negotiation process. “When he first approached me, I got him in my WhatsApp, and he was asking, ‘Yeah, I have a call.’ And I’m like, I don’t like calendar entries. Let’s just call now. And he was like, ‘Yeah, give me 10 minutes. I need to finish coding.'”
That moment resonated with Steinberger. “He’s still writing code. He didn’t drift away in just being a manager. He gets me. That was a good first start,” he explained. The conversation that followed was equally unorthodox: “I think we had like a 10 minute fight. What’s better? Claude Code or Codex? That’s the thing you first do, casually call someone who owns one of the largest companies in the world and you have a 10 minutes conversation about that.”
Steinberger added with amusement: “Afterwards he called me eccentric, but brilliant.”
What appears to be drawing Steinberger toward Meta is Zuckerberg’s hands-on engagement with the technology itself. “It’s funny. So Mark’s sort of tinkering with a thing, essentially having fun with a thing,” he noted. This wasn’t just a CEO doing due diligence on a potential acquisition—it was a fellow developer genuinely interested in the technical work.
Steinberger also hinted at some compelling technical advantages on Meta’s side, though he remained bound by NDAs. “I cannot tell the exact number because of NDA, but you can be creative and think of the Cerebras deal and how that would translate into speed. And that was very intriguing. You know, like you give me source hammer. Been flooded with tokens.”
The OpenAI Connection
Despite his enthusiasm about Meta, Steinberger acknowledged he liked OpenAI. “I love the tech. I think I’m the biggest Codex advertisement show that’s unpaid and it would feel so gratifying to like put a price on all the work I did for free.”
His conversations with Sam Altman also left an impression. “I had some really, really cool discussion with Sam Altman. He is very thoughtful, brilliant. I like him a lot from the little time I had,” Steinberger said.
However, he noted a difference in approach: “Mark basically, ‘Oh, this is great. Oh, this is shit. Oh, it needs to change this.’ Funny little anecdotes and people using your stuff is kind of like the biggest compliment and also shows me that they actually care about it. And I didn’t get the same on the OpenAI side.”
A Decision Unlike Any Other
When Fridman asked if this was the hardest decision Steinberger had ever faced, his response was characteristically blunt: “Nah. You know, I had some breakups in the past that feel like at a similar level.” But he quickly added: “I also know that in the end, they’re both amazing. I cannot go wrong.”
What’s perhaps most remarkable about Steinberger’s position is his apparent lack of anxiety about the outcome. “The beauty is if it doesn’t work out, I can just do my own thing again. I told them like, I don’t do this for the money. I don’t give a fuck,” he said.
What It Means for OpenClaw and AI Agents
The fact that both Meta and OpenAI are competing to acquire OpenClaw signals the broader industry recognition that agentic AI—systems that can autonomously manage tasks, use tools, and maintain context over time—represents a crucial next frontier. OpenClaw’s rapid viral growth demonstrated clear market demand for AI assistants that go beyond simple chatbots to function as genuine digital employees.
For Meta, acquiring OpenClaw could accelerate its AI agent capabilities and provide a compelling use case for its infrastructure investments. For OpenAI, it would bring a proven platform and community into the fold, potentially integrating with products like ChatGPT and its API ecosystem.
Regardless of which company Steinberger chooses—or whether he ultimately decides to remain independent—the negotiation itself reveals how quickly the AI landscape is evolving. A project that began as a personal experiment just months ago is now the subject of acquisition interest from two of the most powerful companies in technology, with their CEOs personally involved in the conversations. That trajectory says as much about the transformative potential of AI agents as it does about Steinberger’s particular creation.