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Peter Steinberger

What Peter Steinberger thinks about AI agents

@peter-steinberger · 51 positions · 0 changes of mind

Founded PSPDFKit in 2011 and ran it for a decade. Came back from a break to work on AI agents — the OpenClaw project, and OpenAI, joined in February 2026. Writes at steipete.me.

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Peter Steinberger did not write this page.

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9 dated positions, 2026, in their own words. Our reading of what Peter Steinberger has said — not written or endorsed by them.

  1. Our readingPerpetually running proactive agents are not a technology problem but a token problem, and no ordinary subscription would survive one.

    Their wordsI mean, honestly, that's not so much a tech problem. It's more a token problem where we could do that today, but you wouldn't get very far with your subscription and not everyone is willing to spend so many tokens.

    ↗Peter Steinberger: "Fun Is Velocity"youtube.com 19th of 22 in this recording

    Interesting

  3. Our readingA computer-using agent needs a machine of its own, or you will spend the day fighting it for the mouse cursor.

    Their wordsThe the part that's really nice about it is because I do a lot of Mac software, agents love to take over my screen and click around and if you put that in their own if you give them their own machine, it will not bother you. Otherwise, you'll fight with the agent for the mouse cursor.

    ↗Peter Steinberger: "Fun Is Velocity"youtube.com 20th of 22 in this recording

    Interesting
  4. 6 months earlier

  5. Our readingSociety has catching up to do: AI is incredibly powerful and not always right, and people who argue 'but my agent said so' have not learned that yet.

    Their wordsSo, I feel we, as a society, we need some catching up to do in terms of understanding that AI is incredibly powerful, but it's not always right. It's not, it's not all-powerful, you know?

    ↗OpenClaw: The Viral AI Agent that Broke the Internet - Peter Steinberger | Lex Fridman Podcast #491youtube.com 3rd of 30 in this recording

    Interesting

  7. Our readingIt is good that the agents-talking-to-agents scare happened in 2026 rather than in 2030, when AI could actually be scary enough to warrant it.

    Their wordsand not in 2030 when, when AI is actually at the level where it could be scary. So, this happening now and people starting discussion, maybe there's even something good that comes out of it.

    ↗OpenClaw: The Viral AI Agent that Broke the Internet - Peter Steinberger | Lex Fridman Podcast #491youtube.com 4th of 30 in this recording

    Interesting

  9. Our readingDo not run a personal agent on a cheap or local model: weak models are gullible and easy to prompt-inject.

    Their wordsThat's why I warn in my security documentation, don't use cheap models. Don't use Haiku or a local model. Even though I, I very much love the idea that this thing could completely run local. If you use a, a very weak local model, they are very gullible. It's very easy to, to prompt inject them.

    ↗OpenClaw: The Viral AI Agent that Broke the Internet - Peter Steinberger | Lex Fridman Podcast #491youtube.com 6th of 30 in this recording

    documentation

    Interesting

  11. Our readingOpenClaw is no more dangerous than Claude Code with permissions skipped or Codex in YOLO mode, which every engineer he knows already runs.

    Their wordsIt is, it is powerful, but in many ways it's not much different than if I run cloud code with dangerously skipped permissions or codecs in YOLO mode, and every, every attending engineer that I know does that, because that's the only way how you can, you can get stuff to work.

    ↗OpenClaw: The Viral AI Agent that Broke the Internet - Peter Steinberger | Lex Fridman Podcast #491youtube.com 7th of 30 in this recording

    Anthropic

    Interesting

  13. Our readingOrchestrators that try to automate the whole build miss style, love and the human touch, and that cannot be automated away yet.

    Their wordsSo, so, people who try to use like, you know, things like Gas Town or all these other orchestrators, where they wanna o- automate the whole thing, I feel if you do that, it misses style, love, that human touch. I don't think you can automate that away so quickly.

    ↗OpenClaw: The Viral AI Agent that Broke the Internet - Peter Steinberger | Lex Fridman Podcast #491youtube.com 14th of 30 in this recording

    Interesting

  15. Our readingThis is the year of personal agents, and the fastest way to get one to everyone is to team up with a lab, on condition the project stays open source.

    Their wordsBut also, I'm very excited to, like, make this into a version that I can get to a lot of people because I think this is the year of personal agents, and that's the future. And the fastest way to do that is teaming up with one of the labs.

    ↗OpenClaw: The Viral AI Agent that Broke the Internet - Peter Steinberger | Lex Fridman Podcast #491youtube.com 18th of 30 in this recording

    open source

    Interesting

  17. Our readingEvery app is now a very slow API whether it wants to be or not, and personal agents will make a whole category of apps disappear.

    Their wordsThat, that gets into the whole arch of every app is just a very slow API now, if they want or not. And that through personal agents a lot of apps will disappear.

    ↗OpenClaw: The Viral AI Agent that Broke the Internet - Peter Steinberger | Lex Fridman Podcast #491youtube.com 20th of 30 in this recording

    Interesting