OpenClaw Creator Uses $1.3M in AI Tokens a Month

One AI engineer just revealed a tab that would bankrupt most startups, if he actually had to pay it. Peter Steinberger, the developer behind viral AI agent OpenClaw, posted a screenshot showing about $20,000 in OpenAI API usage in a single day, as well as roughly $1.3 million worth of tokens consumed over 30 days, per Business Insider. Steinberger, who now works at OpenAI, says he isn't footing the bill himself, calling the tokens a bonus tied to the company's support for OpenClaw and confirming that OpenAI doesn't charge him—in other words, he's getting "a hell of a perk," notes PC Gamer.

The disclosure spotlights both the steep cost of intensive AI use and the emerging "tokenmaxxing" culture in Silicon Valley, where some companies reportedly track high-usage leaderboards, per Business Insider. Reactions on X ranged from awe to criticism, with some users arguing that money could fund engineers' salaries instead. Others called the post a form of marketing. Steinberger countered that the spending powers automation—from AI agents that listen to meetings and act on instructions to tools that screen spam—and lets his team stay "extremely lean," though critics questioned how "lean" a $1.3 million monthly token burn can be.