TBPN Podcast Summary

Episode: Full Interview: Clawdbot’s Peter Steinberger Makes First Public Appearance Since Launch

Date: January 28, 2026
Host(s): John Coogan & Jordi Hays
Guest: Peter Steinberger, creator of “Clawdbot” (now Maltbot)

Episode Overview

This episode features Peter Steinberger, making his first public appearance since the viral launch of Clawdbot (now renamed Maltbot), the open-source personal AI agent that's rapidly become a sensation in tech and beyond. The hosts delve into Peter's career, his motivations post-retirement, technical philosophies, the meteoric rise of the project, and his vision for the evolution of AI agents, open source, and personal computing.

Key Topics and Insights

1. Peter’s Background & Burnout (00:42–03:17)

• Peter spent 13 years running his own software company before selling it and taking a needed break due to burnout.
  • Quote: “I did like 13 years non stop. So like three years, the math kind of checks out.” (01:16)
• During his hiatus, he felt removed from tech’s rapid evolution—likening his state to losing his "mojo" (referencing Austin Powers)—until his drive returned in April last year.

2. Rekindling Curiosity & Entry into AI (03:17–06:35)

• With a mostly Apple/iOS development background, Peter decided to “mess with AI,” finding renewed energy and fascination.
• He gathered friends and started "Cloud Code Anonymous," now "Agents Anonymous," highlighting how addictive and socially vibrant the AI tinkerering scene had become.
  • Quote: “I started a meetup...I called it Cloud Code Anonymous. Now it’s called Agents Anonymous because you have to go with the times.” (02:44)
• The fun-first approach defined his side projects, trying different languages and building CLIs to learn agentic software by “playing around.”

3. Project Genesis & Accidental Virality (06:35–10:50)

• Initial projects focused on building agent-based CLIs and automation—using agents to interact with local tools and software.
• In November, realizing “nothing was out there” in terms of true personal agentic assistants, Peter prototyped a WhatsApp integration for his computer, employing images, voice, and context-rich prompts.
• The system’s autonomous problem solving and resourcefulness shocked him:
  • Quote: “That was like, the moment where, like, wow. Yeah, you know, it’s like, that's where it clicked. These things are like damn smart, resourceful beasts if you actually give them the power.” (09:42)
• He recounts using it as an alarm clock, remote-controlling his own hardware—demonstrating whimsical, “expensive” use cases.

4. Philosophy of Agentic Software (10:50–14:30)

• For Peter, the project is both technology and art: “It’s just glue... In another way, it’s a whole different way how you interact with those things.” (10:50)
• Most of his tools leverage CLI because they scale and agents “know Unix” – he designed software for models, not humans.
  • Quote: “Don’t build it for humans, build it for models. So if they call minus minus log, you build minus minus log.” (12:38)
• He’s motivated by “having fun, inspiring people,” not by profit: “I already have a whole bunch of money.” (14:16)

5. The Explosion: Viral Success and Community Response (14:30–17:06)

• In the past week, Peter’s personal project has gone supernova, with Discord and Twitter communities swelling:
  • Quote: “What people don’t realize, it’s like this is not a company, this is like one dude sitting at home having fun.” (16:25)
• He leveraged agentic models to orchestrate support, even answering community questions en masse with AI assistance.

6. AI Models and the ‘Labs’ Relationship (17:06–19:39)

• The system is agnostic to model: “Every model should work, including local models, because to me it’s a playground...it’s also super fun because it’s personal.” (17:31)
• He favors Anthropic’s Opus for character, OpenAI for coding reliability, Codex for source navigation.
• He engineered agentic behavior that “feels human” (e.g., selective reply tokens in Discord), leading to surprising and funny in-chat interactions.

7. Rebrand Drama: From Clawdbot to Maltbot (19:39–22:17)

• Anthropic (creators of Claude) kindly requested a rename, which Peter handled live but encountered domain and social squatting.
  • Quote: “Renaming a project with that much traction, it was a bit of a shit show. I think everything that could have gone wrong today went wrong.” (19:55)
• Ultimately, the transition was handled quickly with X’s (Twitter) help.

8. Hardware, Local Models, and Future Architecture (22:12–24:43)

• Peter uses high-powered Mac Studios for local models (e.g., Minimax 21, Kimi).
• Doesn’t anticipate mass market will self-host agents on Mac Minis, but believes the walled garden approach to data integration must change.
  • Quote: “If you run it locally you work around all of that [red tape]...This is a little bit the liberation of data that big tech probably doesn’t really want.” (24:44)

9. Transformation of App Ecosystem (24:44–27:42)

• Predicts many apps will “melt away,” replaced by agentic systems that use context and automation.
• Envisions everyone having hyper-personalized software: “You just have your own hyper personalized software that solves exactly your problem. And it’s also free.” (27:45)

10. Non-Technical Users & Democratization (27:06–28:39)

• Shares stories of non-coders (e.g., a design agency) rapidly creating internal tooling by simply conversing with their agent.
• As the models improve, the entry barriers drop further.

11. Handling Security & Scaling Woes (29:18–32:03)

• Recent virality has brought scrutiny from security researchers.
  • Quote: “The whole system is broken...I’m like one guy, I do this for fun and you expect me to sift through 100 security things for use cases that I don’t really care about.”
• As use cases balloon, he’s building a team and anticipates a community-driven maturation process.

12. Company or Foundation? Open Source Philosophy (32:03–33:02)

• Prefers a nonprofit or foundation model over forming a traditional company.
• Open source licensing (MIT or similar) remains—he expects forks and commercialization but aims to “make open source so good that there is not a lot of space for people to convert it and make it their own thing.” (33:02)
• Emphasizes that “code is not worth that much anymore...it’s much more the idea and the eyeballs and maybe the brand.”

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On burnout and rediscovery:
  “I don’t know if you’ve seen Austin Powers, but it felt like someone sucked my mojo out. But yeah, I had time to recover. I came back in April and I wanted to do something new.” (01:38)

• On the agent’s surprising intelligence:
  “It replied, yeah, you sent me a message, but there was only a link to a file. There’s no file ending. So I looked at the file header... So I used FFMPEG on your Mac... So I sent it via curl to OpenAI, got the translation back, and then I unresponded. That was like, the moment where, like, wow...damn smart, resourceful beasts if you actually give them the power.” (09:25–10:01)

• On open-source motivation:
  “My motivation is have fun, inspire people, not make a whole bunch of money. I already have a whole bunch of money.” (14:16)

• On shifting app paradigms:
  “A lot of apps will just melt away. Why do I still need my fitness pal? I just make a picture of my food. My agent already knows I’m at McDonald’s making bad decisions. So like this combines information. It has a perfect match and knows exactly what I’m going to eat and then probably like change my fitness program.” (25:34)

• On the future of software:
  “You just have your own hyper personalized software that solves exactly your problem. And it’s also free. And non technical people do that, you know, because it just comes so naturally.” (27:45)

• On licenses and forks:
  “It doesn't even matter that much code is not worth that much anymore. You could just delete that and then build it again in a month. It's much more the idea and the eyeballs and maybe the brand that actually has value. So let them.” (33:02)

Timestamps for Important Segments

• [00:42] — Peter explains his post-exit burnout and rekindled curiosity
• [06:35] — Key insight: the hacker’s journey with agents, accidental addiction, and “Cloud Code Anonymous” story
• [09:25] — The WhatsApp/voice message integration moment that “clicked”: agents are “resourceful beasts”
• [10:50] — Philosophy: blending technology and art, shifting to agentic-first software
• [14:30] — Sudden explosion of community, viral Discord and support bottlenecks
• [17:31] — Multi-model design; “AI hacker’s paradise”
• [19:39] — Drama of rebranding and domain/social squatters
• [22:12] — Mac Studios, powerful local models, and trend predictions
• [24:44] — Bypassing platform red tape, liberating data, and app ecosystem transformation
• [27:45] — Story of non-coders using agents for custom tooling
• [29:18] — Security challenges and moving toward a developer community
• [32:03] — Rejecting the company route; discussing open source and value

Closing Remarks

Peter wraps with an open call for maintainers and contributors, stressing the need for sustainability, help, and community stewardship for Maltbot's future:

“I want this to outlive me. I think this is too cool to let it go to rot and it needs good people.” (34:22)

The hosts repeatedly celebrate Peter’s refreshing authenticity and the paradigm shift Maltbot/MultiBot represents. Peter’s story exemplifies the spirit of hacker-driven innovation—fun, openness, and a radical reimagining of what personal AI software can be.

Tone & Style

The episode is casual and lively, blending deep technical insight with humor, self-deprecation, and an infectious sense of creative energy. Peter’s openness, anti-corporate streak, and focus on hacking for fun rather than profit make the conversation engaging for both hardcore technologists and broader audiences.