This “Marvel” has taken the world by storm by creating an “AI that actually does things.” Learn more here!

From the desk of Miles Everson:

Hi!

I hope your week is off to a wonderful start!

Today, we’re putting the spotlight on a “Marvel” who took the world and the AI industry by storm in just a few months.

Want to know more?

Keep reading below to get a closer look at this “Marvel.”

This “Marvel” has taken the world by storm by creating an “AI that actually does things.” Learn more here!

In just a span of three years, artificial intelligence (AI) has ushered in advancements at such a breakneck pace that hasn’t been seen before. 

Each day, new developments and new iterations of tools crop up, pushing the boundaries of what could be done with AI further.

… and while this pace of change has been a gamechanger, it’s also made it difficult to stand out in the AI space.

For developers, startups, and even established firms to stand out, they’d need to create something truly incredible to take the whole industry by storm and grab the attention of industry heavyweights like  OpenAI,  Anthropic, and  Meta.

Enter  OpenClaw …

OpenClaw, formerly known as Moltbot and Clawdbot (yes, in that order) is an open source (meaning everyone can use it) AI agent that acts autonomously and can be run locally on a user’s hardware. It’s also designed to work with multiple AI tools like ChatGPT, Gemini, and the likes.

This AI agent differs from standard models because it is “always on” and can operate 24/7 working tasks like managing emails, browsing the web to accomplish tasks, booking flights, working on coding projects, and a variety of other things. 

Standard models, on the other hand, need to receive prompts regularly in order to accomplish tasks or generate outputs.

OpenClaw was released for public use in November 2025. In the months following its release, the AI agent quickly gained traction and popularity, especially for living up to its billing as  “the AI that actually does things.”

That said, who came up with OpenClaw?

Peter Steinberger!

Steinberger is a developer born and raised in Austria.

He developed a love for computers at the age of 14, after an acquaintance introduced him to a PC.

Steinberger’s passion for tech eventually led him to pursue a degree in software engineering at the  Vienna University of Technology.

During the early years of his career and before he set out to become a founder, he worked as a senior iOS engineer and taught mobile development at his alma mater.

Eventually, Steinberger built his own business.  PSPDFKit (now known as nutrient), specialized in building and developing application programming interfaces (API) and software development kits (SDK) for portable document format (PDF) and other document processing features like e-signing and document viewing and editing.

Steinberger spent 13 years building PSPDFKit into a powerhouse that included the likes of  Apple  and  Dropbox  among its clients.

By 2020, Steinberger exited his startup and retired from the world of tech. Three years later, he returned, exploring and keeping tabs on modern web tools all while the AI boom was kicking into full swing.

Fast forward to 2025, Steinberger worked on OpenClaw, the 44th AI-related project he’s worked on since 2009.

OpenClaw proved to be a winning idea as it took the world by storm in just a few months after its November 2025 public release. The AI agent recorded peak traffic of two million visitors in just a week, and by early February 2026, it had already gained 145,000 stars on  GitHub, a popular developer platform.

What’s more?

The AI agent saw usage in various Silicon Valley firms, leading Steinberger to get the attention of Sam Altman and Mark Zuckerberg, both of whom tried recruiting him into their respective firms.

In the end, Altman won Steinberger over, as the latter announced on February 14, 2026 that he would be joining OpenAI, with OpenClaw moving to an independent and open source foundation backed by OpenAI.

Given Steinberger’s pedigree and experience, there’s a good chance that it won’t take long for him and OpenAI to come up with something groundbreaking in the world of AI.

A Builder at Heart

In his OpenAI announcement letter, Steinberger noted he was  “a builder at heart” —a statement validated by years of working on various coding projects.

… and you know what?

This "builder" mindset is exactly what has driven his success!

Be it his startup, PSPDFKit or OpenClaw, Steinberger has demonstrated his yearning to build tools that are immensely helpful to others.

Given Steinberger’s mindset, it becomes unsurprising why he was able to take the world by storm in just a few months.

After all, the most enduring way to be remembered is to build at scale—creating tools or solutions that provide tangible value to the world at large.

Hope you’ve found this week’s topic interesting and helpful.

Stay tuned for next Monday’s Marketing Marvels!

Imagine posting a video online, thinking only a handful of people might watch it. Maybe it was meant for friends, colleagues, or in this case, a group of loyal students…

Learn more about  Cassey  Ho in next week’s article!