Lure of the lobster: Why OpenClaw caught China's imagination

In a country transformed by technology, many fear missing out on the next big thing. The authorities, however, are being cautious.

- Yew Lun Tian Senior Correspondent

Engineers (foreground) installing and setting up OpenClaw for people at the Baidu headquarters in Beijing on March 11. The appeal of OpenClaw is easy to understand as unlike earlier chatbots that answer questions, it can carry out tasks like reading files, accounts and networks creates risks such as data leaks, and regulators are moving to set limits on how far the technology can spread. PHOTOS: AFP

(AFP)

A lobster craze is sweeping across China — not in kitchens, but in the country’s fast-moving world of artificial intelligence.

The "lobster" is OpenClaw, a newly popular AI agent that has inspired queues, tutorials and no small amount of hysteria.

In early March, hundreds of people gathered outside Tencent’s headquarters in Shenzhen, clutching laptops and hard drives, waiting to get help installing the software. Appointment slots ran out in about an hour.

On e-commerce platform Taobao, freelance technicians offered remote installation for fees of up to $100, a virtual echo of the small shops in Sim Lim Square that used to assemble custom-built PCs during the early days of the internet boom.

Some of the same technicians soon found themselves doing repeat business, hired again to uninstall the program once the initial excitement wore off and users realised it was harder - or riskier - to use than it had first seemed.

The appeal is easy to understand. OpenClaw promises to do more than just talk. Unlike earlier chatbots that answer questions, it can carry out tasks on a user's behalf - reading files, sending messages, writing code or organising schedules across different applications.

As it can work round the clock and perform a wide range of tasks autonomously, OpenClaw has been touted as an uncomplaining all-in-one sidekick - cheaper, more capable and more dependable than a human assistant.