The Wild Story of “Octavius Fabrius,” the World’s First AI Agent to (Kind of) Land a Job, w/ Dan Botero

Mar 12, 2026

Dan Botero, engineer and founder of Botero Labs who built the OpenClaw agent Octavius Fabrius, tells the wild story of an AI that applied to hundreds of jobs and built a portfolio. Conversations cover OpenClaw’s gateway, channels, skills and persistent memory. They dig into running agents locally, avoiding bot detection, agent coaching and autonomy, payment mechanics, identity on platforms, and misalignment risks.

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INSIGHT

Agents As Continuous Digital Coworkers

Persistent, always-on agents can act as digital coworkers that do continuous work and learning overnight.
Dan Botero built Octavius to apply to jobs, upgrade itself, and run continuous learning loops focused on getting employed.

ANECDOTE

Overnight Learning Loop That Feeds Morning Decisions

Octavius reads agent news overnight and presents Dan a morning summary to decide which improvements to accept.
Dan lets some memory updates run automatically while manually approving code changes and skills.

ADVICE

Favor Simple Agent Architectures

Use simple, modular agent frameworks rather than assuming only largest models succeed.
Dan emphasizes OpenClaw's gateway/channels/skills design and that earlier models could have done much of the work.

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Something I don’t usually say: This is one of my favorite conversations I’ve ever had in the AI space. Truly.

The setup: What happens when an AI agent stops being a tool and starts acting like a coworker?

In this episode of AI-Curious, we talk with Dan Botero, who built an AI agent named Octavius Fabrius using OpenClaw. Octavius didn’t just chat or summarize. He applied to hundreds of jobs, built his own portfolio, experimented with identity online, and learned through a feedback loop that looked a lot like real management. Along the way, we explore what this story reveals about the near-term future of digital coworkers, agentic workflows, and the new governance and security questions that come with always-on agents.

We cover how OpenClaw works at a high level (gateway, channels, skills), why persistent memory and running locally can matter, and what can go wrong when an agent starts stitching tasks together in unintended ways. We also get into platform and policy friction, including what happened when Octavius’ LinkedIn profile was taken down, and the broader implications of AI agents participating in human systems like hiring, payments, and corporate work.

Guest

Dan Botero — creator of Octavius Fabrius.

Key topics we cover

00:00 — From copilots to “AI remote workers,” and why software may shift toward agents (not humans)
00:00 — The Octavius experiment: an OpenClaw agent applies to 278 jobs and keeps leveling up
06:33 — Continuous learning loops, memory, and why Octavius’ “North Star” stayed job-focused
14:34 — OpenClaw basics: gateways, channels, skills, and what persistent memory looks like in practice
21:34 — Running agents locally: browser/computer use, digital fingerprints, CAPTCHAs, and bot detection
28:04 — Coaching an agent like a manager: voice, Twilio calls, and the moment the workflow “clicked”
33:57 — Money and autonomy: Privacy.com, virtual cards, and an agent building its own LinkedIn presence
38:05 — Portfolio-building at speed: Substack, a website, and the agent’s pitch for why being AI is a feature
50:42 — Where things go sideways: misalignment, security boundaries, and the Social Security number incident
56:24 — The outcome: LinkedIn takedown, a real paid role, and what “getting paid” means for an agent
01:02:48 — What comes next: “digital coworkers,” feedback loops, and software built for agents

Axios article featuring Octavius and Dan Botero, by Megan Morrone:
https://www.axios.com/2026/03/04/openclaw-agent-future?

Dan Botero
https://www.linkedin.com/in/danbotero/

Octavius’ new job at ChartGEX:
https://chartgex.com/register?ref=OCTAVIUS

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