OpenClaw creator’s advice to AI creators is to have more fun and allow yourself time to improve

Peter Steinberger, the creator of the viral AI agent OpenClaw, who has since been hired by OpenAI, has some advice for those trying out AI technology, including AI agents. In his own experience, the best way to build today is to explore, have fun, and not expect to be an expert at what you do right away.

“I wish I could say I had the standard plan at first, but a lot of it was just exploration,” Steinberger said. “I wanted things, and those things weren’t there, and… let’s just say, I forced them into existence.”

The developer was speaking with OpenAI’s head of developer experience, Romain Huet, in the first episode of the company’s new Builders Unscripted podcast. Here he talks about what OpenClaw was like in its early days and how he didn’t have a plan when he started.

Steinberger explained that he started by building a tool that integrated with WhatsApp, but then put it aside for a bit and focused on other things, as he assumed that AI labs would build something like what he was working on in the near future.

“I experimented a lot. My mission, kind of, was to have fun and inspire people,” Steinberger noted. However, by last November, the developer was surprised that no AI labs had started building what he wanted to use. This led him to create the prototype of what is now known as OpenClaw.

“The thing that really resonated with me was the place I was on this weekend trip in Marrakesh, and I found myself using it a lot more because it was so convenient… there wasn’t really good internet. [But] “WhatsApp works everywhere. The tool has made it easier for him to find restaurants, look up things on his computer, text friends, and more,” he said.

The more technology was used, the more Steinberger realized how good modern AI models were at solving problems, just like programmers.

“Now they can come up with the solutions themselves, even though you didn’t program them at all,” he noted.

Throughout the build process, Steinberger said his workflow improved — and stressed to other developers that this may take time, so don’t give up.

“There are these people who… write software the old way, and the old way will disappear,” he noted. They then decided to try bioprogramming, but were disappointed with the results.

“I think dynamic encryption is a slur,” Steinberger said, essentially noting that it’s not as initially simple a process as the term sounds. “They try AI, but they don’t understand that it’s a skill,” he said, then compared the process of programming using AI to learning the guitar.

“You’re not going to be good at playing guitar on the first day,” he said. Instead, he recommends that people approach learning in a more playful way. If he writes a letter now, he will have a gut feeling about how long it will take, and if it takes longer, he will think about what went wrong and adjust.

“My advice is always, take it in a fun way. Build something you’ve always wanted to build. If you’re at least a builder, there should be something in the back of your mind that you want to build. Like, just play.”

This ability to experiment and have fun is what matters most, especially at a time when people worry that artificial intelligence will overtake their jobs.

“If your identity is: I want to make things. I want to solve problems. If you’re a top agency, if you’re smart, you’ll be in more demand than ever,” Steinberger said.