The devices offer a low-cost way to run OpenClaw, the AI tool whose popularity has erupted in recent weeks, culminating in its creator\u00a0Peter Steinberger being hired by OpenAI<\/a> last weekend. <\/p>\n OpenClaw was initially released under the name Clawdbot in November. It has been hailed as the first successful example of a \u201cpersonal AI agent\u201d that can run locally on a personal computer, in contrast to chatbots such as ChatGPT that operate largely in the cloud. It can be used for tasks such as writing emails and replying to WhatsApp messages. <\/p>\n Running OpenClaw on Raspberry Pi delivers \u201c\u2018good enough\u2019 functionality at near-zero incremental cost\u201d for many users, Damindu Jayaweera, analyst at Peel Hunt, wrote in a note to clients this week. It also offered the \u201ckey benefit: owning the compute rather than renting it from the cloud\u201d.<\/p>\n OpenClaw also spawned Moltbook, a social network for AI agents that briefly excited Silicon Valley figures including Elon Musk and AI researcher Andrej Karpathy earlier this month.<\/p>\n Alongside Anthropic\u2019s Claude Cowork<\/a>, a coding tool for non-technical users, the emergence of OpenClaw has contributed to stock market jitters across a wide range of sectors, from business software and wealth management to trucking and logistics. That is because some investors have begun to panic about the potentially disruptive effects of AI agents on white-collar work.<\/p>\n Many early adopters of OpenClaw have been experimenting with the open-source tool using Apple Mac computers, which typically cost at least $600 in the US.<\/p>\n However, the software is also simple to install on a Raspberry Pi costing as little as $100, with the added benefit of containing potential cyber security risks associated with installing OpenClaw on a user\u2019s main computer, which could expose personal data. <\/p>\n \u201cSilicon Valley start-ups and individuals anecdotally appear to be buying tens or hundreds of these things to run concurrent OpenClaw agentic swarms,\u201d wrote Serenity, a social media stockpicker, in a widely circulated post on X on Monday. <\/p>\n The behaviour of Raspberry Pi stock bore the hallmarks of a GameStop-esque \u201cmeme-narrative\u201d frenzy, said Ivan \u0106osovi\u0107, founder of data provider Breakout Point. \u201cA prominent social media post, a share price that looks optically discounted, and big shorts that can be framed as opposition.\u201d <\/p>\n Retail investors\u2019 interest in the company surged this week, investment platforms said. The number of people buying the stock on Interactive Investor more than tripled on Tuesday, compared with the average level of the previous 30 days. <\/p>\n AJ Bell said trading activity on its platform on Monday and Tuesday alone was more than double the whole previous week, although volumes on both days were relatively small.<\/p>\n \u201cOpenClaw is just one example of what becomes possible when AI runs locally on a device rather than in the cloud,\u201d Raspberry Pi said. \u201cThe company is seeing growing interest in running models directly on low-cost hardware as an alternative to relying entirely on large, cloud-based systems.\u201d<\/p>\n Jayaweera said: \u201cFor investors, this is not about one tool. It is evidence of a broader shift. As AI models and agents become more efficient, inference is moving from centralized cloud servers to cheap, distributed edge devices.\u201d<\/p>\n Recommended<\/p>\n![\"Line](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/https:\/\/d6c748xw2pzm8.cloudfront.net\/prod\/78065430-0ce9-11f1-bf19-b3d7f3676274-standard.png\")
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