China Promotion for the Use of Openclaw Local AI Agents in China: Openclaw Hype Meets Security Concerns

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Wuxi InfiMotion Technology Co., Ltd.

AI agents on your own computer instead of in the cloud is becoming a mass phenomenon in China. The open source framework Openclaw is creating hype among tech enthusiasts and everyday users, and is raising new questions about the practical and safe use of AI.

A long queue formed outside Tencent's headquarters in Shenzhen in March 2026. Almost a thousand people came because the technology company was offering free help with the installation of Openclaw by Peter Steinberger. OpenClaw, the open-source framework for using AI models and agents on your own hard disk, has triggered a moderate amount of hype in China.

"Lobster farming", "yang longxia" in Chinese, alluding to the red lobster claw in the logo of the AI tool, has quickly become a kind of popular sport in China. Not only AI engineers and programmers, students and pensioners are patiently queuing up. Many housewives have also turned up, which the Chinese tech portal Taimeiti promptly made fun of.

"So really, dama!" writes TMT, this is not a queue where free eggs are handed out. Dama means "middle-aged aunt" in Chinese. The expression is not really malicious, but it's not nice either. They don't even know what Node.js is, the author wrote.

Inside, engineers from Tencent's cloud division help with the installation of Openclaw. The AI agent can then access users' emails, local files or calendars and combine them into automated workflows using a locally stored LLM.

Lobster for the People

Tencent is gradually setting up such "Hummer installation centers" in 17 Chinese cities. The Chinese search company Baidu and many other companies are also running similar campaigns. If you don't want to stand in line, you can have a handyman come to your home. This service is available from 500 yuan (around 63 euros). However, prices vary greatly. One programmer who is currently exploiting the full potential of these home visits is said to have earned the equivalent of 30,000 euros in just a few days.

Some people who got cold feet afterwards because the AI agent has access to their entire digital life are now paying to uninstall it again. Austrian programmer Peter Steinberger published Openclaw on GitHub in November 2025. The software has been widely downloaded worldwide. Steinberger has since been hired by OpenAI. He is famous in China.

China's major technology companies have joined the trend. Tencent not only helps with the installation of the Openclaw original free of charge, but has also launched QClaw, a similar application developed in-house. Minimax has introduced Maxclaw, Moonshot AI has presented Kimiclaw. Alibaba has developed Copaw. Tencent's "QClaw", however, has an important advantage. It can be connected to WeChat, the ubiquitous super app in China for messaging, payments, chats, food orders and more.

The Hype is Real

China's local governments are now also surfing the Openclaw wave. Funding programs are being launched in several major cities. Anyone who founds an "OPC", i.e. a "One Person Company", with the help of Openclaw receives subsidies.

The calculation: a single founder is enough for such a one-person company. With the AI agent in the "Hummer" and a hard disk, product development, operation and marketing can be managed all by themselves. The cities and municipalities, many of which are in debt, are hoping for a boost to their local economies.

On March 7, the Longgang district in Shenzhen published an official catalog of measures with subsidies of up to two million yuan, or around 250,000 euros, for start-ups based on Openclaw. In addition, there are digital vouchers for up to 40 percent of investment costs and access to investors. New OPCs also receive free "tokens" for their AI computers for three months as well as discounted office space.

Wuxi in Jiangsu province goes even further. The city has adopted a twelve-point plan. Project grants of up to five million yuan (around 630,000 euros) are earmarked for breakthroughs in robotics or embodied AI based on Openclaw frameworks, and 500,000 yuan for industrial applications such as predictive maintenance or quality control.

The district of Xuhui in Shanghai plans to organize a "super entrepreneur competition" at the end of March under the motto Openclaw. "OPCs will be a long-term trend," the Xinhua news agency quotes Ding Hong, a member of the Chinese Academy of Sciences. Where else could ordinary people without programming skills develop useful apps?

Dangerous All-Rounder?

The top cyber security watchdog in Beijing is a little suspicious of the whole Hummer boom. CNCERT, the "National Computer Network Emergency Response Technical Team Coordination Center of China", has published two warnings within a week. They write that Openclaw has been granted many security-relevant rights. These include access to the user's local file system, reading environment variables, calling external APIs and permission to install extensions.

Attackers could exploit vulnerabilities and easily gain full control of the system. CNCERT reports directly to the Cyberspace Administration of China (CAC), the central government's most powerful data security authority. Government agencies and state-owned enterprises are said to have been warned against allowing Openclaw on work devices, Bloomberg reported.

For it to be really useful, Openclaw needs many passwords and almost all private files, writes Xie Xin, a software developer, on his WeChat account. If there is misuse, it may not be so bad for private users, he thinks. "If something goes wrong in a company, files could be deleted or data could be leaked," he writes.

The difference to many other countries, however, is that although such concerns and security risks are discussed in China, new technologies and their application in practice are welcomed enthusiastically. People regulate and adjust, but they cannot be deterred.

However, the "nationwide lobster euphoria" may not last long, comments Taimeiti. Such hype often dies down after a short time. Many people don't install Openclaw because they really need an assistant to book tickets or sort tables. They were just afraid of missing something.

"What people are uploading are not really 'lobsters', but a little bit of control over their FOMO, their fear of missing out," says the slightly sour comment. On the positive side, it should be noted that Openclaw is currently promoting knowledge about artificial intelligence in Chinese society. Until recently, many people didn't even know what a large language model (LLM) was. Now they are playing with it at home. The hype, however long it lasts, will "drive the development of domestic lobster technologies and related industries", writes TMT. (sb)