Meet OpenClaw, the AI Agent whose founder Sam Altman has hired paying billions, and is ‘feared’ globally

OpenClaw, the open-source AI agent that went from obscure side project to Silicon Valley’s biggest obsession in barely two months, is facing a serious security reckoning. Meta has banned it from workplace devices. Cisco’s AI security researchers have called it an “absolute nightmare.” Microsoft has warned that its method of blending untrusted instructions with executable code creates vulnerabilities standard desktops aren’t built to handle. And even OpenClaw’s loudest cheerleaders are starting to pump the brakes.

The tool, originally launched as Clawdbot by Austrian solo developer Peter Steinberger late last year, runs a personal AI assistant locally on your machine.