After OpenClaw's China Tour, We Interviewed a Group of "Lobster Chasers"

Original｜Odaily（@OdailyChina）

Author｜Wenser（@wenser 2010）

On March 2nd, OpenClaw finally surpassed React to become the project with the most stars on GitHub, thus rising to become the "most recognized tool" among programmers.

In just over two months, this AI project focused on automated execution has rapidly swept across global discussion forums. Almost everyone is racking their brains to "adopt a lobster," trying to use it to complete various goals, projecting their expectations like believers making wishes.

Changes often first occur among those with the keenest sense of smell. In late February, some active figures in the crypto space, represented by Kong Jianping, founder of Nano Labs, and Justin Sun, founder of TRON, along with allies like CAI under Cai Wensheng of Meituan, launched the nationwide offline tour "Web4.0 China Tour." Crowds flocked to the events, reminiscent of the days when everyone talked about Web3, crypto, the metaverse, and NFTs.

As industry observers active at the intersection of AI and crypto, Odaily interviewed several on-site participants and compiled some "post-event reflections" to reconstruct this "AI counter-encirclement campaign" initiated by humans.

Web3 is Dead, Long Live Web4: The AI Anxiety Ignited by OpenClaw

In the first week after the Lunar New Year, a ranking chart circulating in various WeChat groups ignited discussions: Clawdbot was at the top—one of the early names for OpenClaw (another was Moltbot).

After the intensive bombardment of news like "The 2028 AI Apocalypse Prophecy" and Block laying off 4,000 people, the internet community quickly fell into a collective "AI anxiety": If you still don't know about the "lobster," it means you're already behind, just like not knowing about Douyin, Clubhouse, or ChatGPT back in the day.

Consequently, offline events framed by the "Web4.0 China Tour" narrative and centered on OpenClaw rapidly gained heat. The far-exceeding-expected number of registrations and attendees also pushed technical concepts like AI Agents and "lobster bots" to a broader audience.

On-Site Activity Sketch: AI Has Moved from Narrative to Reality

Photos from the Beijing station released by 1783 DAO show a packed venue; @Wayne, who participated in the Beijing event, told us he first saw KOLs reposting the information on X, then searched via Xiaohongshu and Luma, and ended up attending three offline events in just a few days.

In his view, the scene showed a clear "polarization": some had already run successful businesses and earned dollars, while others didn't even know how to buy cloud servers. At the same time, "generational differences" were also evident—Gen Z (post-2005) started entering the field, post-2000 entrepreneurs were common, post-1990s individuals remained the fastest to act, while the older generation mostly came with anxiety about being left behind by the times.

Another friend who helped organize the OpenClaw Lobster Gathering in Shenzhen, @0xqiuqiuu , offered a different perspective.

As a community operator for OpenBuild, Qiuqiu observed that the biggest beneficiaries of this wave of AI-driven cost reduction and efficiency improvement led by OpenClaw are companies and bosses. It also provides more convenient efficiency tools for "one-person companies," independent developers, and creators to boost output.

Furthermore, the Shenzhen event saw participation from many white-haired elderly gentlemen, as well as parents bringing their young daughters and sons. The age range spanned from over 70 years old down to 11 years old. This distinguishes it from previous knowledge-payment courses peddling "9.9 yuan to master AI." AI has gradually permeated all demographics and most industries. The best way to alleviate "AI anxiety" is not to sit idly by, but to embrace AI, use AI, and combat vague emotions with concrete actions.

As for "whether AI will replace jobs or humans," some interviewees gave a negative answer.

@币圈离镜, engaged in Web3 industry interviews, pointed out that AI will not replace humans; instead, more positions will be created because of AI. (Similar to the "Jevons Paradox" we mentioned earlier, see "The War Between Stablecoins and Banking Likely Doesn't Exist").

@Wayne, a Web3 industry analyst, also mentioned that AI will not replace most people but may restructure over 50% of job structures. Specifically, he believes replacing "positions" ≠ replacing "people," so what is actually being replaced are "task modules." AI will prioritize replacing highly structured, standardized parts. For example, managers who previously managed humans and organized coordination might give way to managers capable of managing AI employees.

Incidentally, Anthropic's research report released yesterday, "AI Labor Market Impacts" survey, found that occupations previously thought to be least impacted by AI, such as programmers, lawyers, educators, artists, white-collar workers, and salespeople, are actually the most impacted; conversely, occupations like construction workers, farmers, repairmen, caregivers, security guards, and restaurant servers, which AI cannot perform in the short term, are less impacted.

In other words, AI can already cover the vast majority of work content for programmers, educators, artists, and written content workers. The impact on live-action movies, short dramas, and TV series after the emergence of Seedance 2.0 is also evident. Of course, offline manual laborers are not easily replaced by AI.

When OpenClaw Meets the Crypto Space: The Prelude to the AI Economy

Despite OpenClaw founder Peter Steinberger publicly advising young people to stay away from cryptocurrency (recommended reading: When OpenClaw Founder Advises Young People to Stay Away from Crypto), many practitioners still believe AI Agents and the crypto system are naturally coupled.

@币圈离镜 stated bluntly: "Human wealth relies on fiat currency settlement, while AI's wealth is more likely to depend on crypto assets." (We discussed this logic earlier in "When AI Agents Become Sentient, Stablecoins = Dollar API").

Many participants expressed a preference for paying event fees with BTC, hoping for earlier integration of Bitcoin payments with AI, rather than stablecoins.

In @Wayne's view, when AI Agents can autonomously call wallets, purchase computing power and data, and complete payment settlements, cryptocurrency will become the medium for machine collaboration and value exchange, shifting from speculative assets to production infrastructure—permissionless settlement networks, on-chain transparency, and incentive mechanisms make it a crucial bridge for AI to access the real economy.

It's worth mentioning that despite the founder's cautious stance, OpenClaw has recommended the crypto privacy AI platform Venice.ai. Reality proves once again: industry boundaries are determined by products and efficiency, not by stances. (Recommended reading: "OpenClaw Endorses Venice.ai, Token VVV Surges Over 500% in a Month").

Conclusion: What Matters is Not "Having a Lobster," But "Using the Lobster"

Recently, "door-to-door OpenClaw installation" has formed a complete paid industry chain on platforms like Xianyu, Taobao, and Xiaohongshu; Tencent Cloud's offline installation assistance has also attracted attention. The story shared on the Kazike public account about "spending 499 to experience door-to-door OpenClaw installation" is widely discussed.

However, among the majority of participants we contacted, many users are still stuck at the installation stage, unsure how to truly utilize it. Moreover, most people using OpenClaw still rely on simplified installation versions provided by various AI model companies or platforms. Even worse, some finally got OpenClaw installed by the Tencent Cloud team after queuing offline, but due to unfamiliarity with operations, let it run automatically, resulting in a not-insignificant token consumption fee, and ended up angrily criticizing Tencent Cloud for being greedy.

It must be said that in the face of new technology, the flip side of FOMO may be potential security risks and unknown operational hazards caused by excessive permissions.

Therefore, for most people, there's no need to be overly anxious. What truly matters has never been "I also have a lobster," but rather "whether my AI is actually solving problems and producing results."

In the era of coexisting with AI, many may get up early, but they will likely still only catch the tail end of the trend.