Andrej Karpathy says he uses an AI agent named Dobby the Elf Claw to control his pool and track his packages
Michael Macor/The San Francisco Chronicle via Getty Images
- Andrej Karpathy said he built an AI claw that helps monitor his home and run some chores.
- He said it controls lights, blinds, security cameras, and the pool. It helped combine six apps into one.
- His system also just got a huge upgrade thanks to Jensen Huang.
How does a former OpenAI and Tesla researcher and engineer turn off the lights in his house?
He said he connects them to an AI agent and asks a bot to do it, of course.
Andrej Karpathy — the founder at Eureka Labs, an OpenAI cofounder, the former director of AI at Tesla, and the engineer who coined the term "vibe coding" — told the "No Priors" podcast he's built a system he calls "Dobby" (like the Harry Potter house elf) to handle some household chores.
"I have a claw basically that takes care of my home, and I call him Dobby the Elf Claw," he said in the interview, which was released on Friday. "It controls all of my lights, my HVAC, my shades, the pool, the spa, and also the security system."
AI claws are a new wave of autonomous AI agents that can take actions on a user's behalf. Unlike traditional large language models that respond in blocks of text, these systems can operate apps and internet-connected devices directly, handling tasks like research, scheduling, and home automation.
The tools have gained traction in recent months, with open-source frameworks like OpenClaw helping popularize the approach. Silicon Valley giants and startups are now racing to build competitors, and OpenAI scooped up OpenClaw and its creator, Peter Steinberger, in February.
Karpathy said he is already using the system for everyday tasks, including tracking his deliveries.
"It sends me a text to my WhatsApp," he said. "It shows an image from the outside, and it says, 'Hey, a FedEx truck just pulled up, and you might want to check it, you got new mail.'"
He said the new system helped remove six separate apps from his phone — Dobby now controls them all.
Karpathy's setup just got a major hardware boost, too. Days before the interview, he posted on X that Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang had gifted him a DGX Station, powered by a GB300 superchip designed for agentic AI workloads.
"She'll make for a beautiful, spacious home for my Dobby the House Elf claw, among lots of other tinkering," Karpathy posted on Wednesday.
Karpathy said he isn't losing any sleep about the system controlling his devices. He told Business Insider that Dobby connects to devices on his home's local network, meaning those systems aren't directly accessible from the internet.
In fact, he said it's helpful for his rest.
"I can ask it, 'Dobby, it's sleepy time,'" he told the podcast. "That just means all of the lights go off."