{"id":353287,"date":"2026-03-29T06:17:09","date_gmt":"2026-03-29T06:17:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/353287\/"},"modified":"2026-03-29T06:17:09","modified_gmt":"2026-03-29T06:17:09","slug":"openclaw-chinas-latest-tech-obsession-could-be-a-game-changer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/353287\/","title":{"rendered":"OpenClaw: China\u2019s latest tech obsession could be a game changer"},"content":{"rendered":"

Taipei \/ Beijing\u00a0\u2014\u00a0\n <\/p>\n

\n At China\u2019s hot new tech events, lobsters are everywhere \u2013\u2013 lobster balloons, lobster headbands, lobster plushies in claw machines, even live lobsters in an inflatable kiddie pool.\n <\/p>\n

\n But the attendees swarming the meet-ups are not here for the crustaceans \u2013\u2013 they\u2019re here for the new technology they represent: OpenClaw, an autonomous artificial intelligence tool, which can be programmed to run tasks nonstop with full control of the user\u2019s device.\n <\/p>\n

\n Rather than a simple question-and-answer format like most AI chatbots, OpenClaw uses the same underlying technology to independently operate apps, web browsers or smart home appliances based on commands via commonly used messaging apps like WhatsApp.\n <\/p>\n

\n Created by Austrian programmer Peter Steinberger and released in November, the free AI agent has been hailed as a new way to supercharge productivity. Jensen Huang, CEO of the US chip giant Nvidia, has called it \u201cthe next ChatGPT\u201d and \u201cthe most popular open-source project in the history of humanity.\u201d\n <\/p>\n

\n In China, OpenClaw has received a particularly fervent welcome among AI enthusiasts and novices alike. According to analysis of global public networks by SecurityScorecard<\/a>, a New York-based cybersecurity firm, China has more OpenClaw users than any other country, with about double the activity of the US, which has next-largest base of users.\n <\/p>\n

\"People<\/p>\n

\n Both tech companies and local communities have organized gatherings for \u201clobster-farming\u201d \u2013\u2013 a popular phrase in China for adopting OpenClaw \u2013\u2013 with some drawing as many as 1,000 participants in major cities. On Chinese e-commerce sites, technical experts sell OpenClaw installation and configuration services for anywhere between $7 and $100.\n <\/p>\n

\n The hype around OpenClaw has prompted other Chinese tech conglomerates to launch their own versions, with names like DuClaw, QClaw and ArkClaw. Local governments have jumped on the bandwagon, pledging subsidies for businesses using the virtual AI assistant to boost regional development.\n <\/p>\n

\n OpenClaw\u2019s nascent success exemplifies how China\u2019s official embrace of advanced technology can translate into grassroots enthusiasm as Beijing pursues domestic growth and an ambitious global agenda. But the push is accompanied by concerns over cybersecurity risks and the potential for widespread job displacement.\n <\/p>\n

\n Amid a wave of cybersecurity alerts from Chinese authorities, two state-backed cybersecurity agencies flagged again last week that OpenClaw could pose \u201cserious security risks,\u201d including remote takeover and data leaks. They released detailed safety guidelines for all users \u2014 from individuals to enterprises and cloud providers.\n <\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

\n \u201cWe all believe that AI will reshape every industry. It\u2019s just a matter of time,\u201d said Jimi Jin, a 33-year-old project manager in Shenzhen who mainly uses OpenClaw to manage work files. \u201cThis isn\u2019t about being diligent or ambitious; it\u2019s more about a desperate self-help strategy to avoid being left behind.\u201d\n <\/p>\n

\n The kind of automation OpenClaw offers has spurred hopes of efficiency gains in China \u2013\u2013 where 93% of respondents to a 2025 KPMG survey <\/a>said they already use AI in their work.\n <\/p>\n

\n In comparison, the US has adopted a warier stance towards OpenClaw and other AI tools. In the KPMG survey, more American respondents were worried about AI than they were optimistic, and only 35% said the benefits outweighed the risks, compared with 69% in China.\n <\/p>\n

\n Corki Xie, a 27-year-old software engineer in Beijing, installed OpenClaw a month ago, using it to respond to work messages, analyze data and post articles on social media.\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cThe gains in efficiency are quite significant,\u201d he said, though he added he\u2019s run into some errors.\n <\/p>\n

\n Xie, who works at a large Chinese tech firm, said internet companies including his employer have \u201caggressively\u201d encouraged the use of AI, linking OpenClaw to work performance.\n <\/p>\n

\n OpenClaw\u2019s arrival coincides with an economic slowdown in China that has exacerbated youth unemployment and sluggish domestic consumption \u2013\u2013 with Beijing projecting its lowest growth rate in decades<\/a> in 2026.\n <\/p>\n

\n Major Chinese corporations, like home appliances brand Haier and EV maker XPeng, have touted plans to incorporate AI into their products and business operations.\n <\/p>\n

\n Even local authorities are pinning their hopes on OpenClaw to support economic development and entrepreneurship. The city of Wuxi, a tech and manufacturing hub in the eastern province of Jiangsu, is offering up to 5 million yuan, or about $726,000, for projects predicated on the new AI agent.\n <\/p>\n

\n But some early adopters fear AI will exacerbate an already difficult labor market.\n <\/p>\n

\n Gao Jiahui, a 20-year-old software engineering student in Tianjin, once aspired to become a coder after graduation. Now she worries that the job she has been preparing for won\u2019t exist by then.\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cAI is advancing so fast that straight-up coding tasks might not need me anymore,\u201d said Gao, who paid $18 to attend an event in Beijing to learn how to use OpenClaw. \u201c(That) anxiety is a major push for me to learn about it and install it.\u201d\n <\/p>\n

\n According to Sun Lichao, an assistant professor of computer science and engineering at Lehigh University in Pennsylvania, the rapid uptake of OpenClaw in China will also likely contribute to a faster displacement of white-collar jobs.\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cAny kind of collaborative work that involves standardized, repetitive tasks \u2014 especially writing code \u2014 is becoming 100% less valuable,\u201d said Sun, whose PhD students now need fewer human collaborators for tasks like coding, because of AI.\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cOpenClaw is a game changer \u2014 a very dangerous one.\u201d\n <\/p>\n

\n The eagerness of Chinese companies and individuals to use OpenClaw could be an advantage for China, as it seeks to become a world leader in AI.\n <\/p>\n

\n China has made the development of AI a major tenet of its national strategy<\/a>, aiming to reach 90% penetration in key sectors like science, governance and manufacturing by 2030. But, despite the lightning speed at which the Chinese AI industry is moving, it\u2019s still seen to be playing catch-up with its American rivals.\n <\/p>\n

\n Open-source technology like OpenClaw has allowed Chinese developers to innovate more quickly than expected, said Kyle Chan, a research fellow at the Washington-based Brookings Institution.\n <\/p>\n

\n The ability for anyone to inspect, modify or enhance the models is a \u201cbig factor\u201d in helping \u201cthe broader developer community move faster,\u201d said Chan.\n <\/p>\n

\n Chan said though Chinese companies see OpenClaw as an opportunity to gain users, US tech giants have been cautious about introducing cybersecurity risks to clients, and may prefer developing their own proprietary AI agents.\n <\/p>\n

\n Organizations in both the US and China have flagged security concerns that come with giving OpenClaw access to personal accounts \u2013\u2013 like email, banking and travel logins \u2013\u2013 or work servers.\n <\/p>\n

\n One warning, issued by China\u2019s state-backed National Computer Network Emergency Response Technical Team<\/a> in March, noted \u201csevere security risks\u201d that could lead to sensitive data leaks from individuals or businesses. For critical industries, these flaws could even \u201cparalyze entire business systems\u201d and cause \u201cincalculable losses,\u201d the notice said.\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cThey\u2019re always trying to find this balance for these technologies that can offer a lot of opportunities, but then can also pose a whole bunch of different risks,\u201d Chan said.\n <\/p>\n

\"Participants<\/p>\n

\n As concerns about cost, security and performance have emerged, so have services offering uninstallation \u2014 for a fee. Still, vendors on e-commerce sites told CNN that demand for OpenClaw installation far outstrips orders for its removal.\n <\/p>\n

\n Shin Wang, a 31-year-old e-commerce operations specialist, had OpenClaw installed on a spare laptop last week and named it JARVIS, after the AI butler in the movie \u201cIron Man.\u201d However, Wang said he wouldn\u2019t give it access to his work or personal files until he had thoroughly tested it.\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cI\u2019m hoping that in the future it will be able to completely free me from those manual tasks,\u201d Wang said.\n <\/p>\n

\n In addition to learning to use OpenClaw, Wang is also thinking about taking up another skill like cooking or playing a musical instrument. He sees it as a precaution \u2014 just in case AI becomes so sophisticated that he can\u2019t find another job.\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Taipei \/ Beijing\u00a0\u2014\u00a0 At China\u2019s hot new tech events, lobsters are everywhere \u2013\u2013 lobster balloons, lobster headbands, lobster…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":353288,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[20],"tags":[365,363,364,111,139,69,145],"class_list":{"0":"post-353287","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-artificial-intelligence","8":"tag-ai","9":"tag-artificial-intelligence","10":"tag-artificialintelligence","11":"tag-new-zealand","12":"tag-newzealand","13":"tag-nz","14":"tag-technology"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/353287","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=353287"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/353287\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/353288"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=353287"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=353287"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=353287"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}