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The viral personal AI assistant formerly known as Clawdbot has a new name \u2014 again. After a legal challenge from Claude\u2019s maker, Anthropic, it had briefly rebranded as Moltbot, but has now settled on OpenClaw as its new name.<\/p>\n
The latest name change wasn\u2019t prompted by Anthropic, which declined to comment. But this time, Clawdbot\u2019s original creator Peter Steinberger made sure to avoid copyright issues from the start. \u201cI got someone to help with researching trademarks for OpenClaw and also asked OpenAI for permission just to be sure,\u201d the Austrian developer told TechCrunch via email.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe lobster has molted into its final form,\u201d Steinberger wrote in a blog post. Molting \u2014 the process through which lobsters grow \u2014 had also inspired OpenClaw\u2019s previous name, but Steinberger confessed on X that the short-lived moniker \u201cnever grew\u201d on him, and others agreed.<\/p>\n
This quick name change highlights the project\u2019s youth, even as it has attracted over 100,000 GitHub stars (a measure of popularity on the software development platform) in just two months. According to Steinberger, OpenClaw\u2019s new name is a nod to its roots and community. \u201cThis project has grown far beyond what I could maintain alone,\u201d he wrote.<\/p>\n
The OpenClaw community has already spawned creative offshoots, including Moltbook \u2014 a social network where AI assistants can interact with each other. The platform has attracted significant attention from AI researchers and developers. Andrej Karpathy, Tesla\u2019s former AI director, called the phenomenon \u201cgenuinely the most incredible sci-fi takeoff-adjacent thing I have seen recently,\u201d noting that \u201cPeople\u2019s Clawdbots (moltbots, now OpenClaw) are self-organizing on a Reddit-like site for AIs, discussing various topics, e.g. even how to speak privately.\u201d<\/p>\n
British programmer Simon Willison described Moltbook as \u201cthe most interesting place on the internet right now\u201d in a blog post on Friday. On the platform, AI agents share information on topics ranging from automating Android phones via remote access to analyzing webcam streams. The platform operates through a skill system, or downloadable instruction files that tell OpenClaw assistants how to interact with the network. Willison noted that agents post to forums called \u201cSubmolts\u201d and even have a built-in mechanism to check the site every four hours for updates, though he cautioned this \u201cfetch and follow instructions from the internet\u201d approach carries inherent security risks.<\/p>\n
Steinberger had taken a break after exiting his former company PSPDFkit, but \u201ccame back from retirement to mess with AI,\u201d per his X bio. Clawdbot stemmed from the personal projects he developed then, but OpenClaw is no longer a solo endeavor. \u201cI added quite a few people from the open source community to the list of maintainers this week,\u201d he told TechCrunch.<\/p>\n
Techcrunch event<\/p>\n
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tBoston, MA<\/span> That additional support will be key for OpenClaw to reach its full potential. Its ambition is to let users have an AI assistant that runs on their own computer and works from the chat apps they already use. But until it ramps up its security, it is still inadvisable to run it outside of a controlled environment, let alone give it access to your main Slack or WhatsApp accounts.<\/p>\n Steinberger is well aware of these concerns, and thanked \u201call security folks for their hard work in helping us harden the project.\u201d Commenting on OpenClaw\u2019s roadmap, he wrote that \u201csecurity remains our top priority\u201d and noted that the latest version, released along with the rebrand, already includes some improvements on that front.<\/p>\n Even with external help, there are problems that are too big for OpenClaw to solve on its own, such as prompt injection, where a malicious message could trick AI models into taking unintended actions. \u201cRemember that prompt injection is still an industry-wide unsolved problem,\u201d Steinberger wrote, while directing users to a set of security best practices.\u00a0<\/p>\n These security best practices require significant technical expertise, which reinforces that OpenClaw is currently best suited for early tinkerers, not mainstream users lured by the promise of an \u201cAI assistant that does things.\u201d As the hype around the project has grown, Steinberger and his supporters have become increasingly vocal in their warnings.<\/p>\n According to a message posted on Discord by one of OpenClaw\u2019s top maintainers, who goes by the nickname of Shadow, \u201cif you can\u2019t understand how to run a command line, this is far too dangerous of a project for you to use safely. This isn\u2019t a tool that should be used by the general public at this time.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n Truly going mainstream will take time and money, and OpenClaw has now started to accept sponsors, with lobster-themed tiers ranging from \u201ckrill\u201d ($5\/month) to \u201cposeidon\u201d ($500\/month). But its sponsorship page makes it clear that Steinberger \u201cdoesn\u2019t keep sponsorship funds.\u201d Instead, he is currently \u201cfiguring out how to pay maintainers properly \u2014 full-time if possible.\u201d<\/p>\n Likely helped by Steinberger\u2019s pedigree and vision, OpenClaw\u2019s roster of sponsors includes software engineers and entrepreneurs who have founded and built other well-known projects, such as Path\u2019s Dave Morin and Ben Tossell, who sold his company Makerpad to Zapier in 2021.<\/p>\n Tossell, who now describes himself as a tinkerer and investor, sees value in putting AI\u2019s potential in people\u2019s hands. \u201cWe need to back people like Peter who are building open source tools anyone can pick up and use,\u201d he told TechCrunch.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
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