China’s OpenClaw hype has spawned a new side hustle: charging to install AI agents and then charging again to uninstall them.
Business Insider on Thursday discovered numerous listings on Chinese second-hand goods marketplaces like Xianyu, a resale platform owned by Chinese tech giant Alibaba, offering paid OpenClaw uninstallation services.
Sellers are charging about 299 Chinese yuan ($44), with some listings reaching as much as $87.
Some companies promise to remove files and viruses left behind after removing software, while others offer in-home services for a hefty fee. Besides Xianyu, such lists can also be found on Chinese social media platform RedNote.
The OpenClaw uninstall service is listed on Xianyu, a resale platform owned by Chinese technology giant Alibaba. Chung Min Lee/Business Insider
The rush to uninstall the AI agent comes as China is restricting the use of OpenClaw in government agencies and state-owned enterprises, citing security concerns.
Employees at these institutions, including large banks, have been told not to install the tool on their work devices and must report to regulators if they already have it, Bloomberg reported Wednesday, citing people familiar with the matter.
OpenClaw started gaining traction among Chinese users last month, but it became even more popular last week when the phrase “growing lobsters” became popular on social media. The term is a nickname used by Chinese netizens when deploying OpenClaw agents to automate tasks, but it quickly became an abbreviation for experimenting with AI tools.
Many users were drawn to the idea that their “lobster” could handle everyday tasks, from managing schedules to building AI-powered assistants and even running small side businesses.
Local media reported that nearly 1,000 people lined up at Tencent’s headquarters in Shenzhen last week to get engineers to help them install OpenClaw for free.
Chinese people lined up to install OpenClaw on their devices. Adek Berry/AFP via Getty Images
Local governments also support this trend. The Shenzhen and Wuxi districts are proposing incentives such as free housing, free offices, and grants of up to $720,000 to attract startups and developers building on OpenClaw.
Concerns about the security of this software have surfaced, prompting some users to uninstall the agent immediately.
In early February, China’s National Vulnerability Database, run by China’s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, warned of potential security risks associated with open source AI agents.
Improperly configured OpenClaw deployments can leave systems vulnerable to cyberattacks and data breaches.
Users in China have also posted guides on RedNote explaining how to uninstall OpenClaw and why they should delete the app.
“OpenClaw Service Economy”
At RedNote, we react to the money our users are making from trends.
“Lobster costs $599 to load and $299 to unload,” one user wrote. People who provide such services “make a lot of money,” the user added.
Some scoff at the growth of what they call the “OpenClaw service economy.”
“This business loop is ingenious,” wrote one RedNote user called Cyber Senior.
“This is not embracing AI. You’re paying the ‘stupid tax’ twice,” the user added.
In a RedNote post published last week, one user said some installers helped other users set up and configure their software and made as much as $36,000 in just a few days.
