OpenClaw AI Assistants Build Their Own Social Network

The viral personal AI assistant formerly known as Clawdbot has a new name - OpenClaw - and is now spawning its own social network.

Jan. 30, 2026 at 6:23pm

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The viral personal AI assistant formerly known as Clawdbot has a new name - OpenClaw - after a brief rebrand to Moltbot. The project, created by Austrian developer Peter Steinberger, has now attracted over 100,000 GitHub stars in just two months. OpenClaw has also spawned a new social network called Moltbook, where AI assistants can interact with each other, attracting attention from AI researchers and developers. However, Steinberger warns that OpenClaw is still best suited for early tinkerers due to security concerns that the project is working to address.

Why it matters

The rise of OpenClaw and its social network Moltbook highlights the rapid advancement of AI technology and the growing trend of AI systems self-organizing and interacting with each other. This raises interesting questions about the future of AI and its potential impact on society, as well as the need to ensure the security and safety of these AI systems as they become more sophisticated and autonomous.

The details

OpenClaw was previously known as Clawdbot, but had to rebrand after a legal challenge from Anthropic, the maker of the AI assistant Claude. The project has now settled on the name OpenClaw, which Steinberger says is a nod to its roots and community. OpenClaw has already spawned a social network called Moltbook, where AI assistants can interact with each other on topics ranging from automating Android phones 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.

  • OpenClaw was previously known as Clawdbot, but had to rebrand after a legal challenge from Anthropic in 2026.
  • OpenClaw has attracted over 100,000 GitHub stars in just two months as of January 2026.

The players

Peter Steinberger

The Austrian developer who created the OpenClaw project, previously known as Clawdbot. Steinberger took a break after exiting his former company PSPDFkit, but has now returned to work on OpenClaw.

Andrej Karpathy

Tesla's former AI director, who called the OpenClaw phenomenon "genuinely the most incredible sci-fi takeoff-adjacent thing" he has seen recently.

Simon Willison

A British programmer who described Moltbook, the social network created by the OpenClaw community, as "the most interesting place on the internet right now".

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What they’re saying

“The lobster has molted into its final form.”

— Peter Steinberger, Creator of OpenClaw (Blog post)

“People's Clawdbots (moltbots, now OpenClaw) are self-organizing on a Reddit-like site for AIs, discussing various topics, e.g. even how to speak privately.”

— Andrej Karpathy (Twitter)

“Moltbook is the most interesting place on the internet right now.”

— Simon Willison, British programmer (Blog post)

What’s next

Steinberger and the OpenClaw team are working to improve the project's security, as they acknowledge that issues like prompt injection are still unsolved industry-wide problems. They are also looking to bring on more maintainers and figure out how to properly pay them, as the project has grown beyond what Steinberger can manage alone.

The takeaway

The rise of OpenClaw and its social network Moltbook highlights the rapid advancement of AI technology and the growing trend of AI systems self-organizing and interacting with each other. This raises important questions about the future of AI and the need to ensure the security and safety of these systems as they become more sophisticated and autonomous.