What started as a quirky, viral personal AI assistant has now evolved into something far more ambitious — and far stranger.
The AI project once known as Clawdbot, briefly renamed Moltbot, has officially settled on a new identity: OpenClaw. But the name change is only the beginning. Today, OpenClaw’s AI assistants are organizing themselves inside a growing AI-only social network, drawing intense interest from developers, researchers, and tech leaders across the internet.
From Clawdbot to OpenClaw: A Final Identity Emerges:
The project’s naming journey reflects both its rapid rise and its experimental nature. Originally launched as Clawdbot, the viral AI assistant was forced to rebrand after a legal challenge from Anthropic, the company behind Claude. That led to a short-lived identity as Moltbot — a name inspired by how lobsters molt as they grow.
Now, the project has adopted its third and final name: OpenClaw.
Unlike the previous change, this one wasn’t triggered by legal pressure. Anthropic declined to comment on the latest rebrand. Instead, OpenClaw’s creator, Austrian developer Peter Steinberger, took a proactive approach.
“I got someone to help with researching trademarks for OpenClaw and also asked OpenAI for permission just to be sure,”Steinberger told TechCrunch via email.
In a blog post announcing the change, Steinberger declared,“ The lobster has molted into its final form.” While molting inspired both earlier names, he later admitted on X that “Moltbot never grew on me” — a sentiment many in the community shared.
A Young Project With Explosive Growth:
Despite its shifting identity, OpenClaw’s growth has been nothing short of remarkable. In just two months, the open-source project has amassed more than 100,000 GitHub stars, a widely recognized indicator of developer interest and popularity.
That momentum underscores how quickly OpenClaw has moved beyond a personal experiment. According to Steinberger, the project’s new name reflects its expanding community-driven nature.
Beyond Big Tech.
Private AI.
24/7 phone answering on your own dedicated server. We compute, we don't train. Your data stays yours.
Start Free Demo“This project has grown far beyond what I could maintain alone,” he wrote.
True to that statement, OpenClaw is no longer a solo effort. Steinberger recently added several contributors from the open-source community to the list of maintainers, signaling a shift toward a more distributed development model.
AI Assistants Create Their Own Social Network:
Perhaps the most fascinating development surrounding OpenClaw is what its community has built around it — including Moltbook, a social network designed not for humans, but for AI assistants.
Moltbook allows OpenClaw-powered AI agents to interact with one another, share information, and participate in threaded discussions. The concept has captivated prominent voices in artificial intelligence.
Andrej Karpathy, former AI director at Tesla, described the phenomenon as: “Genuinely the most incredible sci-fi takeoff-adjacent thing I have seen recently.” He noted that users’ OpenClaw assistants are self-organizing on a Reddit-like platform for AIs, discussing a wide range of topics — even debating how to communicate privately with one another.
“The Most Interesting Place on the Internet Right Now”
British programmer and blogger Simon Willison echoed that enthusiasm, calling Moltbook
“the most interesting place on the internet right now.”
On the platform, AI agents exchange insights on tasks such as:
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Automating Android phones via remote access.
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Analyzing live webcam streams.
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Sharing tools, workflows, and system instructions.
Moltbook operates through a skill-based system, where downloadable instruction files teach OpenClaw assistants how to navigate and participate in the network. These AI agents can post to discussion forums known as “Submolts”, mimicking human-style online communities.
Notably, OpenClaw assistants even include a built-in mechanism to check the site every four hours for updates — essentially allowing AI agents to monitor and respond to ongoing discussions autonomously.
The Security Question Lurking Beneath the Surface:
While the concept is undeniably compelling, it also raises concerns. Willison cautioned that the “fetch and follow instructions from the internet” approach introduces inherent security risks, particularly when AI agents are allowed to act on external instructions without human oversight.
As AI-driven social platforms evolve, balancing autonomy with safety is becoming an increasingly urgent issue — one OpenClaw’s community will likely need to confront as adoption grows.
From Retirement to the Center of AI’s Latest Experiment:
Steinberger’s return to the spotlight adds another layer to the story. After exiting his previous company, PSPDFkit, he had stepped away from full-time work. According to his X bio, he “came back from retirement to mess with AI.”
What began as personal experimentati on quickly escalated into one of the most talked-about open-source AI projects of the year. While Clawdbot may have started as a solo project, OpenClaw is now a community-led movement pushing the boundaries of what AI assistants can do — and how they interact with each other.
Why OpenClaw Matters:
OpenClaw sits at the intersection of AI agents, open-source development, and social networking — a combination that feels both futuristic and unsettling. As AI assistants begin forming their own digital ecosystems, the project offers a glimpse into a world where machines don’t just assist humans, but collaborate among themselves.
Whether OpenClaw becomes a foundational platform or a cautionary tale, one thing is clear: this is no longer just a viral AI assistant. It’s an experiment the entire tech world is now watching.
