Clawdbot creator says Anthropic was 'really nice' in renaming email — but everything 'went wrong' on rebrand day

Peter Steinberger, the mastermind behind the AI agent Clawdbot, recently opened up about the tumultuous rebranding process that followed an email from Anthropic. Initially, Steinberger had named his viral AI project after Clawd, the mascot associated with Anthropic's Claude code. However, as Anthropic holds the trademark for both the Clawd image and the Claude name, a change was inevitable. In a candid discussion on TBPN, Steinberger revealed that he was instructed to rename the project, noting, "Kudos, they were really nice. They didn't send their lawyers; they sent someone internally." Despite the amicable approach, he described the timeline leading up to the name change as "rough," emphasizing the difficulty of rebranding a product that had already gained significant social media traction. Steinberger recounted a mishap that occurred shortly after the project's renaming to Moltbot. The X account associated with the new name was quickly claimed by crypto sellers, leading to a frantic effort to reclaim it. He stated, "For 20 minutes, that didn't work out so well," highlighting the challenges that come with the territory. When asked why Anthropic or any other company wouldn't simply acquire Moltbot, Steinberger mentioned that while venture capitalists were showing interest, there were also emails from security researchers that could deter potential buyers. "This is all vibe-coded," he explained, expressing concerns about the risks associated with his product. Steinberger also indicated that he might prefer to see Moltbot evolve into a foundation or nonprofit rather than being acquired by a corporation. Interestingly, he confessed a preference for coding with OpenAI's Codex over Claude Code, describing Codex as more straightforward for his needs. He often found himself using Codex to manage an influx of questions on his Discord server, underscoring his reliance on the tool. In a light-hearted jab at Anthropic, OpenAI's Chief Marketing Officer, Kate Rouch, seized the moment to highlight the situation, further adding to the narrative of this unexpected rebranding saga.