Taipei / Beijing
At China’s sizzling new tech occasions, lobsters are in all places –– lobster balloons, lobster headbands, lobster plushies in claw machines, even reside lobsters in an inflatable kiddie pool.
However the attendees swarming the meet-ups aren’t right here for the crustaceans –– they’re right here for the brand new expertise they symbolize: OpenClaw, an autonomous synthetic intelligence software, which will be programmed to run duties nonstop with full management of the person’s gadget.
Slightly than a easy question-and-answer format like most AI chatbots, OpenClaw makes use of the identical underlying expertise to independently function apps, net browsers or sensible residence home equipment primarily based on instructions through generally used messaging apps like WhatsApp.
Created by Austrian programmer Peter Steinberger and launched in November, the free AI agent has been hailed as a brand new solution to supercharge productiveness. Jensen Huang, CEO of the US chip big Nvidia, has known as it “the subsequent ChatGPT” and “the preferred open-source venture within the historical past of humanity.”
In China, OpenClaw has acquired a very fervent welcome amongst AI fanatics and novices alike. In response to evaluation of worldwide public networks by SecurityScorecard, a New York-based cybersecurity agency, China has extra OpenClaw customers than another nation, with about double the exercise of the US, which has next-largest base of customers.
Each tech firms and native communities have organized gatherings for “lobster-farming” –– a well-liked phrase in China for adopting OpenClaw –– with some drawing as many as 1,000 individuals in main cities. On Chinese language e-commerce websites, technical specialists promote OpenClaw set up and configuration providers for anyplace between $7 and $100.
The hype round OpenClaw has prompted different Chinese language tech conglomerates to launch their very own variations, with names like DuClaw, QClaw and ArkClaw. Native governments have jumped on the bandwagon, pledging subsidies for companies utilizing the digital AI assistant to spice up regional growth.
OpenClaw’s nascent success exemplifies how China’s official embrace of superior expertise can translate into grassroots enthusiasm as Beijing pursues home development and an formidable world agenda. However the push is accompanied by issues over cybersecurity dangers and the potential for widespread job displacement.
Amid a wave of cybersecurity alerts from Chinese language authorities, two state-backed cybersecurity businesses flagged once more final week that OpenClaw may pose “critical safety dangers,” together with distant takeover and information leaks. They launched detailed security tips for all customers — from people to enterprises and cloud suppliers.
“All of us imagine that AI will reshape each business. It’s only a matter of time,” mentioned Jimi Jin, a 33-year-old venture supervisor in Shenzhen who primarily makes use of OpenClaw to handle work recordsdata. “This isn’t about being diligent or formidable; it’s extra a couple of determined self-help technique to keep away from being left behind.”
The form of automation OpenClaw presents has spurred hopes of effectivity beneficial properties in China –– the place 93% of respondents to a 2025 KPMG survey mentioned they already use AI of their work.
Compared, the US has adopted a warier stance in the direction of OpenClaw and different AI instruments. Within the KPMG survey, extra American respondents have been anxious about AI than they have been optimistic, and solely 35% mentioned the advantages outweighed the dangers, in contrast with 69% in China.
Corki Xie, a 27-year-old software program engineer in Beijing, put in OpenClaw a month in the past, utilizing it to answer work messages, analyze information and submit articles on social media.
“The beneficial properties in effectivity are fairly vital,” he mentioned, although he added he’s run into some errors.
Xie, who works at a big Chinese language tech agency, mentioned web firms together with his employer have “aggressively” inspired using AI, linking OpenClaw to work efficiency.
OpenClaw’s arrival coincides with an financial slowdown in China that has exacerbated youth unemployment and sluggish home consumption –– with Beijing projecting its lowest development fee in many years in 2026.
Main Chinese language companies, like residence home equipment model Haier and EV maker XPeng, have touted plans to include AI into their merchandise and enterprise operations.
Even native authorities are pinning their hopes on OpenClaw to help financial growth and entrepreneurship. The town of Wuxi, a tech and manufacturing hub within the jap province of Jiangsu, is providing as much as 5 million yuan, or about $726,000, for tasks predicated on the brand new AI agent.
However some early adopters concern AI will exacerbate an already tough labor market.
Gao Jiahui, a 20-year-old software program engineering pupil in Tianjin, as soon as aspired to grow to be a coder after commencement. Now she worries that the job she has been getting ready for received’t exist by then.
“AI is advancing so quick that straight-up coding duties won’t want me anymore,” mentioned Gao, who paid $18 to attend an occasion in Beijing to discover ways to use OpenClaw. “(That) anxiousness is a significant push for me to find out about it and set up it.”
In response to Solar Lichao, an assistant professor of pc science and engineering at Lehigh College in Pennsylvania, the speedy uptake of OpenClaw in China will even doubtless contribute to a quicker displacement of white-collar jobs.
“Any form of collaborative work that entails standardized, repetitive duties — particularly writing code — is changing into 100% much less beneficial,” mentioned Solar, whose PhD college students now want fewer human collaborators for duties like coding, due to AI.
“OpenClaw is a sport changer — a really harmful one.”
The eagerness of Chinese language firms and people to make use of OpenClaw might be a bonus for China, because it seeks to grow to be a world chief in AI.
China has made the event of AI a significant tenet of its nationwide technique, aiming to achieve 90% penetration in key sectors like science, governance and manufacturing by 2030. However, regardless of the lightning pace at which the Chinese language AI business is transferring, it’s nonetheless seen to be enjoying catch-up with its American rivals.
Open-source expertise like OpenClaw has allowed Chinese language builders to innovate extra shortly than anticipated, mentioned Kyle Chan, a analysis fellow on the Washington-based Brookings Establishment.
The flexibility for anybody to examine, modify or improve the fashions is a “massive issue” in serving to “the broader developer neighborhood transfer quicker,” mentioned Chan.
Chan mentioned although Chinese language firms see OpenClaw as a possibility to realize customers, US tech giants have been cautious about introducing cybersecurity dangers to shoppers, and should favor growing their very own proprietary AI brokers.
Organizations in each the US and China have flagged safety issues that include giving OpenClaw entry to non-public accounts –– like electronic mail, banking and journey logins –– or work servers.
One warning, issued by China’s state-backed Nationwide Pc Community Emergency Response Technical Group in March, famous “extreme safety dangers” that would result in delicate information leaks from people or companies. For important industries, these flaws may even “paralyze whole enterprise techniques” and trigger “incalculable losses,” the discover mentioned.
“They’re at all times looking for this steadiness for these applied sciences that may provide lots of alternatives, however then may pose an entire bunch of various dangers,” Chan mentioned.
As issues about price, safety and efficiency have emerged, so have providers providing uninstallation — for a payment. Nonetheless, distributors on e-commerce websites advised CNN that demand for OpenClaw set up far outstrips orders for its removing.
Shin Wang, a 31-year-old e-commerce operations specialist, had OpenClaw put in on a spare laptop computer final week and named it JARVIS, after the AI butler within the film “Iron Man.” Nevertheless, Wang mentioned he wouldn’t give it entry to his work or private recordsdata till he had completely examined it.
“I’m hoping that sooner or later it will likely be in a position to utterly free me from these guide duties,” Wang mentioned.
Along with studying to make use of OpenClaw, Wang can be desirous about taking over one other ability like cooking or enjoying a musical instrument. He sees it as a precaution — simply in case AI turns into so subtle that he can’t discover one other job.
