Anthropic Restores Developer Account After OpenClaw Ban Sparks Debate
Anthropic has reinstated the account of Peter Steinberger, creator of the OpenClaw AI tool, after briefly suspending it over alleged “suspicious activity.” The ban, which lasted only a few hours, drew widespread attention after Steinberger shared details on social media platform X early Friday.
Steinberger had posted a screenshot showing Anthropic’s message about the suspension, prompting hundreds of comments and speculation about the move. Among the responses was an Anthropic engineer who clarified that the company has never banned users solely for employing OpenClaw and offered assistance.
The timing of the suspension was notable, coming shortly after Anthropic announced changes to its pricing policy for third-party AI harnesses like OpenClaw. Under the new rules, users must pay separately for OpenClaw’s API usage rather than relying on standard Claude subscriptions. Anthropic justified the shift by citing the higher computational demands of AI harnesses, which often run continuous reasoning loops and integrate with multiple external tools.
Steinberger, who recently joined OpenAI, expressed skepticism about Anthropic’s reasoning, suggesting the timing coincided with the company rolling out similar features in its own agent, Cowork. He also highlighted that OpenClaw testing with Claude models remains essential to ensure compatibility for users across different platforms.
When questioned about his continued use of Claude despite his OpenAI role, Steinberger explained that his work at the OpenClaw Foundation focuses on maintaining compatibility with all model providers, while his OpenAI position involves broader product strategy. He emphasized the need to separate these roles, noting that Claude remains a popular choice among OpenClaw users.
The brief ban and subsequent reinstatement underscore ongoing tensions in the AI industry as companies adjust policies around third-party integrations. Anthropic has not commented on whether the engineer’s intervention directly led to the account’s restoration.
Steinberger did not respond to requests for further comment.
