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Podcast Host
Welcome to the podcast. We love talking everything. Openclaw, Claude Cowork. These automation tools are literally taking over the world and they're insanely useful. I have one on my side computer monitor right now that is filling out my turbo taxes as we speak. I gave it all of my financial transactions that I made last year and talked with it to categorize and organize everything, and it is saving me so much work and brain damage. I do have to keep an eye on it, though, to make sure everything is pretty accurate. But I've been impressed so far. This is. It's been amazing, saving me a ton of time. And, you know, we don't have a lot of time with taxes due coming up tomorrow. So today we wanted to talk about a specific story that was getting people a little bit riled up. The creator of openclaw, Anthropic, banned him from accessing Claude. And of course, it basically ignited a firestorm over on Twitter of people talking about closed source versus open source. Because open, I mean, right? So he originally created Claude bot, goes to Open Claw because of Anthropic cease and desist. OpenAI acquires Aqua, hires him, brings him in and kind of takes over the project. So the problem that we're seeing right now is Claude put out a new terms of service saying that if you have one of Claude's max plans or pro plans, they're kind of like their hundred dollar two hundred tier. You used to be able to use it for openclaw, but no longer. And the reason is kind of straightforward. I don't think it's too controversial, if I'm being honest. A lot of people get quite riled about this and people probably mad at me, but like, basically it's super subsidized. Like you're using 1000 and I've heard up. I've heard quotes going up to $15,000 in tokens a month if you actually max out your plan every day, which I personally max up my plan every day. So I am getting my absolute money's worth out of my $200. And I mean, to be fair, they do kind of rinse you because they have an option to upgrade and buy more tokens, and I have purchased more tokens on top of that. So you definitely can max it out. But what they won't let you do is use that same plan to run your open Claw, because technically, now it's their competitor. It's OpenAI. And a lot of people are kind of mad about this because they're like, look, you only get the subsidized tokens if you're in their platform. Well, they're subsidized, in my opinion. But yeah, a lot of people are upset about this and banning the creator of openclaw, while it was kind of like. It's sort of like a glitch, to be honest. Anyways, I got a lot of people upset. I want to go into all this. There's so much drama I want to dive into. Before I do, I completely forgot we have to give a huge shout out. Guys are. If you haven't left a review on this podcast Already, we have 95 reviews on Apple. We only need five more to hit 100. This is like the. This is the one thing. If you have. If you got any value out of this show over the years or if you're a new listener, it would help so much if you could leave a review. We would love to hit 100 reviews. We're so close. 95. We can taste it. If you could help us get the last five reviews over on Apple podcasts or Spotify, wherever you listen to your. Your, your podcast, that would be amazing. And then in addition to that, if you haven't already joined the AI Hustle school community, every week we drop an episode over there. It's 19amonth. And we share how we grow and scale our businesses using AI. Jamie this week broke down an entire episode showing how he created a call bot so someone can call his business. And it talks. It's super low latency. It's incredible. It says everything and it directs people to book a discovery call with him. It's amazing. If you think AI is bad at answering phones or making calls, this is an incredible demo. So I'd go check that out. Jamie shows you how to set it up and how he's setting up for other businesses making money doing that. Okay, let's talk about what. Jamie, I'd love to just kick this over to you because I've talked too long here. What are your thoughts on. On the Open Claw creator ban?
Podcast Co-Host Jamie
Yeah, so Peter Steinberger posted on X that he said, yeah folks, it's going to be harder in the Future to ensure OpenClaw still works with Anthropic models. Then he posted a screenshot from Claude. It says, hello, an internal investigation of suspicious signals associated with your account indicates a violation of our usage policy. As a result, we have revoked your access to Claude. So. And then it, you know, so anyways, he's kind of, I think he's stirring the pot a little bit. First of all, if he actually is now employed by OpenAI and working heavily with them, why is he using Claude? I don't know. That's my first question. But, but secondly, you know, I think there's been like, like Jaden said, there's been a lot of controversy around this decision of, of Anthropic to kind of throttle or not allow people to use Open Claw with their Claude with, with Claude because of the, the token usage. And, and basically people are, you know, having this thing run 247 doing all kinds of things. A lot of them I'm guessing are kind of AI slop as well. They're not really. Actually I think people just want to see what OpenClaw can do and then post about it on, on the Internet. That's my theory anyways. I think Anthropic is probably losing money because of this and so they're kind of cracking down on it. But. So Peter Steinberger is now was banned. It said it only happened for a few hours because he said later his post was. His account had been reinstated. So like you said, it might have been just a glitch or something, but either way, kind of a interesting story considering all that's been going on recently.
Podcast Host
I also say like with the, with this whole thing getting reinstated as well. Usually when you're a very high profile person that has been involved in a lot of high profile stuff. When you, when you, when you post about this someone to Anthropic, it's their job to go and reinstate your account. So that's why I got reinstated. If it was just a random person, I don't think it would have happened what people were asking him about because I thought he was using one of his subsidized accounts. I think it was literally just his API. So maybe it was a Little sketchier and more nefarious than we think. It seems like he was just kind of regularly using the API like he should be. Like it was inside of their terms and it got banned. Someone said, I hope you were making autonomous weapons or something like that. He said he was making really sharp claws. Um, someone said, were you using Claude to make Open Claw better or just using it for testing? He said, we constantly run E to E tests to ensure harnesses, harness changes don't break with most common models. That's all my org and my key. Um, so I mean your. To your question, Jamie, of like, why he was even using Anthropic when He works at OpenAI since OpenClaw does work with any model, he was apparently just testing out switching. I don't know, seems a little bit. Seems a little suspicious. But we'll, we'll go with the story then. This is, I guess, the, the solution. Someone said, why not use a local adapter that uses CLI in the background. They won't be able to tell at all. You'll have to change up the payload a bit. But Paperclip has been chugging along fine doing this. And he said, we do that now. Do I understand. I'm sure if you're a developer, you think I'm dumb, but do I understand what setting up a local adapter that uses CLI in the background is? No. Why did I talk about it on the podcast? Because if you run into this situation, copy and paste that comment and tell Claude code to set it up for you or Claude Cowork and it will. This is like literally my absolute favorite thing and I'm sure I'm super annoying to many developers. You with Cloud Cowork because it can take control of your screen and just do things. And I'm sure there's ways to do this with openclaw, but it's not the one that I've. I'm the most familiar with because I'm not quite as much of a power user, I guess I would say. But literally any technical thing that you see on Twitter or online where it's explained how to do something technical, sometimes it's articles, sometimes it's Twitter threads. I copy and paste the whole thing. I give it to Claude Cowork and it just goes and implements it. So something that I think is amazing about this and I think, I think it's relevant because we're also seeing it's not just kind of this ban story, but I think this is more of a story about these tools are getting More popular. Microsoft just came out and said that they're working on an open claw like agent. So we're going to see something like that. We're going seen a bunch of other people rolling this out as well. So I think this is, I mean it's obviously the future. This is an incredibly useful use case. I'd be excited to see if OpenAI can get into this more. I'm not sure why they're not and I guess hiring him is, is their way of doing it, but yeah, OpenAI agents built into chat GPT was not the thing and cloud cohort, guys, I'm telling you, it takes control of your computer. It does everything. I have a side tab doing my taxes right now and I've had it set up like four or five websites and sasses in the last two weeks, fully built out. It is amazing.
Podcast Co-Host Jamie
Yeah, I mean I think this, this year, the year of the agent we talked about and AI being able to actually complete tasks for you is really like the new invention of the Internet. It really is creating a lot of opportunity for both entrepreneurs, developers, developers, you know, lots of people before up to this point, I feel like AI, we were talking about the new features that you could do, but a lot of times you still had to do. There had to be a human involved in completing a task. And now that you can automate all that, it's really open up a whole new world. And so I think, yeah, the faster that these companies can get on board with making their own agent, the, the better chance they're going to have. I mean, it's amazing to see the Claude usage go up in the past three months, even compared to the past 12 months. It's because of their cowork, essentially. So I think Microsoft is smart to be working on one. Yeah, it is interesting. OpenAI. I mean, I know OpenAI has some agentic features, but yeah, it seems like they haven't really released anything super revolutionary in a while, which unless I'm wrong, correct me, but yeah, it's interesting to see what they're doing right now.
Podcast Host
Anyways, thank you so much everyone for tuning into the podcast. If you enjoyed the episode, make sure as always to go check out the school community where we drop all of the alpha and share the really exciting ways we're growing and scaling our businesses with AI. We'll catch you guys all in the next episode.
Liberty Mutual Spokesperson
And Doug, there's nowhere I wouldn't go to help someone customize and save on car insurance with Liberty Mutant, even if it means sitting front row at a comedy show.
Comedic Sidekick
Hey, everyone, check out this guy and his bird. What is this, your first date?
Liberty Mutual Spokesperson
Oh, no.
Liberty Mutual Agent
We help people customize and save on car insurance with Liberty Mutual together.
Liberty Mutual Spokesperson
We're married. Me to a human, him to a bird.
Comedic Sidekick
Yeah, the bird looks out of your league.
Liberty Mutual Agent
Anyways, get a quote@libertymutual.com or with your local agent.
Comedic Sidekick
Liberty. Liberty. Liberty. Liberty.
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Release Date: April 21, 2026
Hosts: Jaeden Schafer and Jamie McCauley
In this episode, Jaeden and Jamie dig into the ongoing debate around open source vs. closed source tools and the business realities driving decisions from major AI companies. Anchored on the controversy behind Anthropic’s ban (and reinstatement) of OpenClaw’s creator, the hosts break down how agent-based AI automation is rapidly unlocking both new use cases and serious entrepreneurial potential. They also share actionable tactics for listeners experimenting with today's sophisticated automation tools—and explore the implications for future monetization strategies.
(Starts at 00:45)
Background: Anthropic banned OpenClaw’s creator, reportedly because his use of Claude’s paid API for a rival agent platform was triggering suspicious activity and excessive token usage.
Core Issue: The move reignited the open-vs-closed source debate, especially as the ecosystem adapts to the business realities of highly-subsidized AI service plans.
Host Experience: Jaeden shares firsthand use of automation tools like Claude Cowork for real-world tasks—including automating his taxes.
"These automation tools are literally taking over the world and they're insanely useful. I have one on my side computer monitor right now that is filling out my turbo taxes as we speak."
—Jaeden Schafer (01:00)
“You used to be able to use [your Claude plan] for OpenClaw, but no longer. And the reason is kind of straightforward... it's super subsidized. Like you're using... up to $15,000 in tokens a month.”
—Jaeden Schafer (02:23)
(04:30–06:13)
Peter Steinberger's Ban: Jamie recounts how Peter Steinberger, OpenClaw's creator (now reportedly at OpenAI), was briefly banned, with Anthropic citing policy violations—but his account was reinstated quickly.
Inside Baseball: Jamie questions why Steinberger, now employed by OpenAI, would continue testing with Claude.
Broader Business Reasoning: Anthropic is likely "losing money" from heavy users maxing out subsidized token allotments, prompting the crackdown.
“If he actually is now employed by OpenAI and working heavily with them, why is he using Claude? I don't know. That's my first question.”
—Jamie McCauley (04:54)
“I think Anthropic is probably losing money because of this, so they're kind of cracking down on it.”
—Jamie McCauley (05:36)
How High-Profile Users Are Treated: Jaeden notes that Steinberger’s quick reinstatement was likely due to his industry profile. For most users, bans would probably remain.
"Usually when you're a very high profile person... someone to Anthropic, it's their job to go and reinstate your account. If it was just a random person, I don't think it would have happened."
—Jaeden Schafer (06:13)
(06:45–08:45)
Workarounds Shared: Some developers propose using local adapters and CLI tricks to sidestep platform restrictions—a tactic Jaeden suggests could be delegated to automation agents like Claude Cowork.
Ecosystem Evolution: Microsoft and others are racing to develop their own agent frameworks in the vein of OpenClaw, suggesting that autonomous, screen-controlling AIs are soon to be ubiquitous.
Empowerment for Entrepreneurs: Jaeden emphasizes how even non-expert users can direct these tools by simply pasting in technical articles and getting results.
“I copy and paste the whole thing. I give it to Claude Cowork and it just goes and implements it.”
—Jaeden Schafer (08:05)
“Cloud Cowork... it takes control of your computer. It does everything. I have a side tab doing my taxes right now and I've had it set up like four or five websites and sasses in the last two weeks, fully built out. It is amazing.”
—Jaeden Schafer (08:34)
(09:18–10:33)
Paradigm Shift: Jamie frames 2026 as a turning point—the year AI agents can autonomously complete complex, multi-step business tasks, not just answer questions.
Monetization Angle: This technological leap opens “a whole new world” for entrepreneurs, as agents shoulder the workload previously handled by humans.
Market Traction: Notable rise in usage numbers for platforms like Claude, largely thanks to their agentic tools; Microsoft and OpenAI’s strategic moves are seen as responses to this rising trend.
Industry Skepticism: Jamie wonders whether OpenAI is keeping up in terms of truly revolutionary releases.
“AI being able to actually complete tasks for you is really like the new invention of the Internet... it's really open up a whole new world.”
—Jamie McCauley (09:25)
“It's amazing to see the Claude usage go up in the past three months, even compared to the past 12 months. It's because of their cowork, essentially.”
—Jamie McCauley (10:06)
Jaeden Schafer (on AI automation):
“These automation tools are literally taking over the world and they're insanely useful.” (01:00)
Jamie McCauley (on platforms protecting business interests):
“I think Anthropic is probably losing money because of this, so they're kind of cracking down on it.” (05:36)
Jaeden Schafer (on harnessing AI for non-technical users):
“I copy and paste the whole thing. I give it to Claude Cowork and it just goes and implements it.” (08:05)
Jamie McCauley (on the value of agents):
“AI being able to actually complete tasks for you is really like the new invention of the Internet.” (09:25)
Stay tuned for future episodes where Jaeden and Jamie continue to share “the alpha” on monetizing the AI revolution!