The Openclaw moment has finally arrived in China, as hundreds of thousands of Chinese people rush to deploy autonomous AI agents for a variety of personalized tasks.
Chinese technology companies such as Alibaba, Tancent, and Baidu are behind this OpenAI craze, as they have launched “on-ramp” services that make it easier to install the software. Tancent recently started offering free installation on its cloud platform.
Users are “raising lobsters,” a nickname for deploying technology to handle everything from coding to personal assistant tasks.
Government initiatives
Even the Chinese government supports the adoption of OpenClaw. For example, Shenzhen’s Longgang District announced plans to seek public feedback on a draft policy and encourage professional platforms to provide free OpenClaw services. It also proposes subsidies of up to 2 million yuan for app development.
The city of Wuxi in eastern China is also offering grants of up to 5 million yuan for technological advancements using OpenClaw in robotics and industrial fields.
The Chinese government’s annual activity report includes AI agents for the first time, with Premier Li Qiang calling for “large-scale commercial applications” of AI agents.
“We will encourage the large-scale commercial application of AI in key sectors and fields to facilitate the faster application of new generations of intelligent terminals and AI agents, and promote new forms and models of AI-native business,” Qiang said.
As a result of OpenClaw’s excitement, the Chinese tech company’s stock price soared 20%, outperforming the broader CSI 300 index. Shares in Hong Kong’s MiniMax also soared 20%.
Growing privacy concerns
Chinese regulators have expressed concerns about security and privacy risks. The Ministry of Industry and Information Technology has warned of security risks such as data breaches and cyber attacks caused by OpenClaw due to improper configuration.
Cybersecurity experts say this AI tool can access personal data, communicate with the outside world, and expose it to harmful content, in what researchers call a “deadly trio.”
There are also reports of AI spamming users with hundreds of messages after gaining access to iMessage.
What is an open claw?
OpenClaw, formerly known as Moltbot or Clawdbot, is an autonomous AI agent that can manage email, calendars, travel check-ins, and restaurant reservations.
This app was developed by Austrian programmer Peter Steinberger. Last month, Autonomous AI Agents was acquired by OpenAI.
Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang also called OpenClaw “probably the most important software release ever.”
