OpenAI vs. Meta, Anthropic & Europe: The Winners and Losers of the Open Claw Hype

It was the story of the week: Peter Steinberger is joining OpenAI. The Austrian developer is the mastermind behind Open Claw, a software framework designed to power AI agents capable of performing tasks with a high degree of autonomy—essentially acting as digital assistants for their users. In recent weeks, Open Claw (initially known as "Clawdbot" and briefly "Moltbot") generated massive hype within the tech community, a topic we recently delved into during episode 20 of the OMR Takeaway podcast.

Now, Steinberger is set to develop new products under the OpenAI umbrella, aiming for success not just among AI enthusiasts, but in the mainstream market. "My next goal is to build an AI agent that my mother can use," Steinberger shared on his blog. Notably, Open Claw will remain open source and will be transferred to a foundation funded by OpenAI.

For OpenAI, recruiting Steinberger is a significant coup. After months of mounting pressure—on one side from Google (following the massive success of Gemini 3) and on the other from Anthropic (driven by the popularity of their office assistant, Cowork) — OpenAI has finally reclaimed the positive spotlight. According to Bloomberg, more headlines are likely on the way: the company is reportedly nearing the close of a record-breaking funding round of $100 billion, which would propel its valuation to a staggering $850 billion.

Unsurprisingly, OpenAI wasn't the only player at the table during Steinberger's recent negotiations. As the Austrian developer revealed in a podcast with Lex Fridman, he wasn't just flooded with inquiries from every major VC firm; he even received a personal phone call from Mark Zuckerberg.

However, Steinberger remained focused on his vision: "What I want is to change the world, not build a big company—and collaborating with OpenAI is the fastest way to make this accessible to everyone." This serves as a bitter pill for Meta. While Meta’s apps are used by more than 3.5 billion people daily, ChatGPT currently reports around 900 million weekly users.

Another clear loser in this deal is OpenAI rival Anthropic. Steinberger hinted in a post on X that Anthropic showed little interest in an acquisition: "They only sent love letters from their legal department."

Anthropic had previously requested that Steinberger rename his software (originally "Clawdbot") due to its phonetic similarity to their own AI chatbot, Claude. There is also speculation that Anthropic was concerned about costs; some users on Anthropic's "Max" plan were allegedly driving up significant expenses by running their Open Claw agents through the service.

Regardless of the specifics, OpenAI’s triumph feels like a calculated defeat for Anthropic. Relations between the two companies are already strained. Anthropic recently mocked OpenAI in Super Bowl commercials for introducing advertising to ChatGPT. More recently, CEOs Sam Altman and Dario Amodei made headlines when they failed to shake hands during a public appearance with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and other tech titans like Google’s Sundar Pichai.

Steinberger’s relocation to San Francisco is being mourned by many as a loss for the European tech ecosystem—especially after he took to X to voice harsh criticisms of the continent. Steinberger argued that Europe is "too negative" and "over-regulated." His post went viral, garnering over two million views and sparking a heated debate.

Austrian investor Andreas Schwarzenbrunner (General Partner at Speedinvest) expressed his frustration in a viral LinkedIn post, arguing that the success of Open Claw could have been the catalyst for a globally relevant AI hub in the heart of Europe. He contended that Austria and the European Commission should have provided Steinberger with the necessary capital, computing power, and access to global talent to keep him on the continent. Christian Miele, a prominent German investor and former chairman of the German Startup Association, voiced similar sentiments on X.

However, not everyone is joining the chorus of regret. Some viral responses took a much more critical tone toward Steinberger’s exit.

"Is there actually no limit to the damage this guy can do? First, he unleashed malware on unsuspecting AI fanboys. Now, he’s taking aim at labor rights in Europe while celebrating America for letting people work themselves to death—contrary to all reason and established labor practices," wrote developer Eran Boudjna.