Will OpenAI Tank OpenClaw? | E2251
This Week in Startups
Jason Calacanis
4.2 • 1.4K Ratings
🗓️ 17 February 2026
⏱️ 87 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Will OpenAI Tank OpenClaw? | E2251
This Week In Startups is made possible by:
Northwest Registered Agent - https://www.northwestregisteredagent.com/twist
Lemon IO - https://lemon.io/twist
LinkedIn Jobs - http://linkedin.com/HiringProOffer
Today’s show:
*OpenAI hired OpenClaw creater Peter Steinberger. What does this mean for the future of the AI virtual assistant platform, and what can the OpenClaw community do TODAY to help protect their favorite free, open-source resource?
Jason and Alex consider the future of OpenClaw alongside guest experts and founders Hiten Shah and Jesse Genet. Plus we’re taking a look at all of their OpenClaw creations. Check out demos of Hiten’s “personal CRM” for busy investors and Jesse’s family media aggregator.
PLUS we’ve got “AI Scott Adams” creator John Arrow to talk about why he was inspired to create an AI clone of the iconic podcaster and “Dilbert” creator, and why he thinks it has so many internet commenters up in arms.
Hiten Shahhttps://x.com/hnshahhttps://crazyegg.com
Jesse Genethttps://x.com/jessegenethttps://Lumi.com
John Arrowhttps://x.com/johnarrowhttps://www.aiscottadams.com/
Timestamps:
(0:00) Introducing our guests Hiten Shah and Jesse Genet!
(2:27) The panel’s biggest concerns about OpenAI hiring OpenClaw creator Peter Steinberger
(6:03) Jason gives us his most optimistic and pessimistic OpenAI takes
(7:58) Why Jason thinks OpenAI will give everyone their own closed-source assistant
(10:45) Jesse’s Mac Minis now outnumber her children!
(15:28) What the OpenClaw community can do right now
(17:08) Can companies “hijack” OpenClaw via hosting and skills?
(20:12) Hiten live-trains an OpenClaw skill based on Jason’s book “Angel”
(22:37) How much is everyone spending on tokens anyway?
(25:56) How Jesse vibe-coded an app to aggregate non-Slop videos for her family
(34:19) Why Jason thinks Jesse’s app is a great potential business
(37:27) Hiten built the “personal CRM” busy people have always dreamed of having
(44:12) “We’re in an appless world.”
(45:19) Why markdown files (.md) are perfect for humans and their AI agents
(52:36) So why are founders so obsessed with OpenClaw?
(58:47) John Arrow, the creator of AI Scott Adams, joins the show
(1:02:44) How does AI Scott Adams get more like Scott Adams over time?
(1:04:37) The legal and ethical considerations around posthumous AI Clones
Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | I am a crazy risk taker. |
| 0:01.7 | I think you got a business here. |
| 0:03.3 | I will give you 125K just to pursue your muse for the next year. |
| 0:08.5 | If it doesn't work out and you burn the 125K, I don't care. |
| 0:11.9 | I like to take risk. |
| 0:13.0 | I can already afford my own Mac studio, Jason, okay? |
| 0:16.2 | I mean, are we doing this or not? |
| 0:21.0 | This week in startups is brought to you by LinkedIn Jobs. |
| 0:25.5 | Higher right the first time. |
| 0:27.5 | Post your job and get $100 off towards your job post at LinkedIn.com slash twist. |
| 0:34.1 | That's LinkedIn.com slash twist. |
| 0:36.8 | Terms and conditions apply. |
| 0:38.3 | Lemon.I.O. Building a great team is essential to any business. Lemon is a marketplace of vetted, |
| 0:43.6 | experienced engineers ready to take your company to the next level. Get 15% off your first |
| 0:48.9 | four weeks of developer time at lemon.io slash twist. Northwest Registered agent. Get more when you start your business with |
| 0:57.5 | Northwest. In 10 clicks and 10 minutes, you can form your company and walk away with a real |
| 1:02.5 | business identity. Learn more at Northwest registeredagent.com slash twist. |
| 1:17.4 | All right, everybody, Monday, February 16th, 2026. Lots of news. He's at Alex. I'm at Jason. |
| 1:26.7 | This is Twist. We have a breaking news story that drops Sunday, OpenClaw, getting bought by the evil empire. Open AI, Sam Altman has bought OpenClaw. Here we are in AD 24, |
| 1:34.5 | or AO 24, 24 days after we started talking about the incredible open source project, OpenClaw, |
| 1:41.6 | and it's already been purchased. We're going to talk all about what that means and handicap it. Alex, you decided to bring some great guests on today for our Monday show of Twist. Who do we got? Yes, we got a couple of awesome guests. First up, we have Heaton Shaw, someone that I've known in the technology world for a very long time. He's the CEO of Crazy Egg, prior co-founder and CEO of a number of other companies, fantastic technologist and OpenClaw fanatic Heaton. Thank you for coming on the show. And we also have Jesse Jinnay. She is a former founder and currently a homeschooling mom. And she's using OpenClaw in and around how she teaches her kids about the world. |
| 2:17.9 | So two different use cases, two different awesome people. |
... |
Please login to see the full transcript.
Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Jason Calacanis, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.
Generated transcripts are the property of Jason Calacanis and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.
Copyright © Tapesearch 2026.