Users CNA spoke to cited accessibility as part of the appeal.
While installation is free, running OpenClaw typically requires a cloud server, which can cost as little as 99 yuan a year on some Chinese cloud computing platforms.
Yan Cong, a 35-year-old technology blogger and brand director at a smart home company, said he has been experimenting with OpenClaw to help write scripts, prepare work reports and research health information.
“The most useful feature so far is ‘skills’,” he told CNA, referring to plugins that instruct the AI agent to perform specialised tasks.
“Efficiency gains are undeniable, but the premise is that you must understand your workflow very well.”
Yet for many users, the technology remains experimental.
Chen Ze, 30, a public relations professional, said he first became curious about OpenClaw after watching livestream footage of people lining up outside Tencent’s headquarters to install the software.
“At the beginning, I didn’t have a specific idea of what I wanted it to do,” he said. “I wanted to experience it first and understand how it works.”
At the Mar 11 Baidu OpenClaw installation session, Li, a 34-year-old employee at a nearby technology firm who gave only her surname, said she came to learn more about the tool.
“I wanted to see what the hype was about,” she told CNA.
Jacob Chen, a 25-year-old Baidu advertising employee, said he had been curious about OpenClaw but had not installed it himself because the process can be complicated.
“It’s easier to come here and let the engineers help set it up,” he said.
https://www.channelnewsasia.com/east-asia/china-openclaw-ai-agent-lobster-popular-security-risks-5985886
