# OpenClaw creator says he spent $10 million in tokens last month

- URL: https://talkfuse.com/story/openclaw-creator-says-he-spent-10-million-in-tokens-last-month/
- Published: 2026-10-21T20:40:00+00:00
- Updated: 2026-10-21T21:16:10+00:00
- Original publisher: The Register
- Original article: https://www.theregister.com/ai-and-ml/2026/10/21/openclaw-creator-says-he-spent-10-million-in-tokens-last-month/5304573
- Topics: Software

## Key points

- OpenClaw’s creator estimates he spent $10 million on tokens last month.
- He said investors covered the cost, and not all the spending was useful.
- He suggested one AI agent could help control another’s permissions.

## Summary

Peter Steinberger, OpenClaw’s creator and an OpenAI technical staff member, said he spent about $10 million on AI tokens last month, funded by investors. His remarks at Cloudflare Connect highlighted how access to vast computing budgets shapes the use of AI agents, while raising questions about costs for people and organisations without similar backing.

Steinberger said some of the spending was not useful and argued that AI infrastructure should move to the cloud, though cloud-hosted agents also raise cost, privacy and compliance concerns. On open-source contributions, he said proposed code should include an explanation of how it was produced to build trust. He expects people to use helpful AI assistants, but said users should limit agents’ permissions and suggested having one agent assess what another is allowed to do.

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Summarised by TalkFuse (https://talkfuse.com/). Quote the original publisher for the reporting and link this page for the summary and discussion.