China is making a big push into artificial intelligence, and the tech powerhouse is holding public events to let the public get their hands on the much-talked-about mobile device, OpenClaw.
“Everyone around me seems to have it, including colleagues and friends,” said new user Gong Sheng while waiting for setup. “I don’t want to be left behind.”
At a rally in Beijing hosted by the internet giant on Tuesday. BaiduGong was one of hundreds of people who lined up to install OpenClaw on their laptops and cell phones.
Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang told CNBC’s Jim Cramer on Tuesday that OpenClaw is “definitely the next ChatGPT,” and he thinks the Chinese would agree. The AI agent, created by Austrian developer Peter Steinberger and previously known as Clawdbot and Moltbot, is all the rage in China.
Events promoting crustacean-themed AI tools (or “growing lobsters,” as the Chinese joke) are being held across the country.
Similar to Baidu, Tencent also recently held a setup session in Shenzhen that attracted retirees and students. In Beijing, developers regularly present their experiences to a packed audience of would-be users at OpenClaw meetups.
“OpenClaw has really gotten hot!” Koki Xu, who works in the legal field, said at a recent conference.
According to US cybersecurity firm Security Scorecard, China has already surpassed the US in adopting OpenClaw. AI agents can do anything on your computer on your behalf without you having to do anything. You can also search the web, buy airline tickets, and direct other bots.
Wang Xiaoyan said she is using what is now called a “one-person company” or OPC in China to start her business.
“Human employees need rest, but OpenClaw can operate 24/7,” Wang explains.
The craze for “lobster farming” is, in theory, exactly what the Chinese government wants. Last summer, the Chinese government released a blueprint to strengthen the economy by deploying AI in 90% of industries and throughout society by 2030.
OPC fits that vision.
“The rise of OPC is directly tied to OpenClaw, allowing individuals to automate all peripheral functions,” said Tom van Dillen, managing partner at consultancy group Greenkern.
Van Dillen said marketing, finance and administrative duties are some of those duties.
He added: “China is turning open source tools into national productivity infrastructure at a speed no other country can match.”
Local governments are also getting in on the game, offering subsidies to companies that use AI tools to create apps.
“The government is pushing and giving direction. That’s why big companies like Tencent and Alibaba have an incentive to build OpenClaw to be better for ordinary people,” Huang Dongxu, co-founder of software provider PingCAP, told CNBC.
But as more and more ordinary Chinese people become obsessed, the government is stepping back.
Chinese authorities have stepped up warnings of security and data risks and directed government agencies, banks and other companies in sensitive sectors to restrict the use of OpenClaw.
New user Gong Zheng said it was difficult to predict how OpenClaw would react.
“It’s hard for us, the public, to know what access we’ve given and what we’ve taken away,” he said.
