---
id: "entity-peter-steinberger-d51"
type: "entity"
entityType: "person"
canonicalName: "Peter Steinberger"
aliases: ["steipete"]
source_timestamps: ["00:10:47"]
tags: ["developers"]
related: ["entity-openclaw", "entity-openai", "claim-openai-retaliation"]
url: "https://twitter.com/steipete"
sources: ["s51-512k-leaked-code"]
sourceVaultSlug: "s51-512k-leaked-code"
originDay: 51
---
# Peter Steinberger

## Profile

Veteran iOS developer, creator of [[entity-openclaw-d51|OpenClaw]], and (since February 14, 2025) engineer at [[entity-openai-d51|OpenAI]].

## Role in the Narrative

Steinberger's hiring is the **inflection point** in the [[claim-openai-retaliation|OpenAI retaliation timeline]]:

- **Feb 14, 2025**: Steinberger joins OpenAI.
- **Feb 20, 2025**: OpenAI updates ToS to ban third-party subscription credential auth.

The coincidence of these dates is the speaker's primary evidence that the ToS change was strategic rather than purely technical/security-driven.

## Why It Matters

This is the human face of ecosystem capture: the prototypical OSS developer who builds something popular gets *acqui-hired* by the platform that immediately afterward kills their tool's external viability.

## Canonical Reference

https://twitter.com/steipete