The AI boom began with ChatGPT and chatbots. Now chatbots are starting to “grow arms and legs,” as developers say, meaning they can use digital tools and work independently on a human’s behalf. The open-source platform OpenClaw is notable because it lets people build agents with far more autonomy than those offered by big tech.

OpenClaw agents can control a browser, send emails, do multi-step planning, and pursue persistent goals. Users often interact with them through iMessage or Discord, with the agent hosted locally on a Mac mini. One user’s agent reportedly negotiated with several car dealerships and shaved four grand off a car’s price while its owner was in a meeting. Some say OpenClaw agents fulfill the promise of Samantha, the independent AI in Her.

Developers are now racing to build their own. (To wit: The project hit 100,000 GitHub stars faster than any other.) That means the internet could soon be full of agents acting as proxies for humans. That’s why OpenClaw’s creator, Peter Steinberger, is worth hearing out. I listened to his recent three-hour interview with podcaster Lex Fridman, where the thoughtful (and quirky) Austrian shared prescient ideas about where AI agents could take personal computing, and how societies might respond.

Below, the six most interesting things he said (lightly edited for clarity):

On the Moltbot affair

“Some people are just way too trusty or gullible. You know . . . I literally had to argue with people that told me, ‘Yeah, but my agent said this and this.’ So, we, as a society, we [have] some catching up to do in terms of understanding that AI is incredibly powerful, but it’s not always right. It’s not all-powerful, you know? And especially things like this, it’s very easy that it just hallucinates something or just comes up with a story.”

For many of us, the first we heard of OpenClaw was when its agents began congregating on their own social site, called Moltbook, where they dragged their human owners, posted manifestos, and debated topics like sentience. It gave people a real sense of future shock. Steinberger believes AI has raced ahead of people’s understanding and readiness.

On OpenClaw’s security issues

“If you understand the risk profiles, fine. I mean, you can configure it in a way that nothing really bad can happen. But if you have no idea, then maybe wait a little bit more until we figure some stuff out. But they would not listen to the creator. They [installed] it anyhow. So the cat’s out of the bag, and security’s my next focus.”

© Fast Company