OpenClaw, an autonomous artificial intelligence agent, is exploding in popularity in China despite a warning from the central government.<\/p>\n
As OpenClaw garners global attention, major information technology providers and regional governments across the nation are increasingly committed to driving citizens to incorporate the epoch-making system.<\/p>\n
However, Chinese authorities are warning of the trend toward OpenClow utilization with looming concerns about information leaks and other risks in mind. Amid authorities\u2019 concerns, the boom appears set to continue at least for some time.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere is a deep-seated sentiment among people that China is still a developing country,\u201d said Li Fei, a senior researcher at Japan\u2019s Mitsui & Co. Global Strategic Studies Institute. \u201cThey have a strong proactive mindset to aggressively take on challenges and move forward anyhow, even though it may mean risk management is put on hold.\u201d<\/p>\n
Beijing is struggling to respond effectively to the latest advances in technological innovation.<\/p>\n
OpenClaw is based on a software technology known as an \u201cautonomous AI agent,\u201d enabling the model to perform computer operations on behalf of human users.<\/p>\n
It can \u201cwork on its own,\u201d which is markedly different from conventional generative AI systems whose capabilities are limited to \u201canswering questions.\u201d<\/p>\n
For example, if instructions are given, such as \u201carranging a meeting and sending an email to the relevant parties,\u201d OpenClaw will automatically select recipients, compose the message and deliver the email from the requestor’s PC.<\/p>\n
OpenClaw quickly came into the spotlight the world over as soon as it was released in November by an Austrian computer programmer.<\/p>\n
Mainly information technology startups in the United States and Europe are starting to take advantage of the open-source model for business purposes, since the code and other \u201cinternal components\u201d of OpenClaw are publicly available for improving usability.<\/p>\n
However, resorting to OpenClaw entails risks. Utilizing OpenClaw requires granting broad access permissions to system files and other resources.<\/p>\n
For this reason, the AI model fear of \u201cgoing out of control\u201d or being hijacked by a third party may lead to the unintentional exposure or deletion of user data.<\/p>\n
As a certain level of expertise and skills is essential to make the most of OpenClaw while avoiding these risks, an insider at a Japanese information technology firm pointed out that it remains unrealistic for ordinary people to work with OpenClaw safely for now.<\/p>\n
\u201cAlthough the system is a hot topic in the information technology industry, it is still not widely recognized among the general public, including in Japan,\u201d the insider said.<\/p>\n
Despite all that, OpenClaw is making waves on a grand scale in China and attracting even non-professional PC users.<\/p>\n
SEMINARS ORGANIZED NATIONWIDE<\/p>\n
The logo of OpenClaw features a crayfish-like character, so users customizing the AI model to their preference is likened to \u201cnurturing a crayfish.\u201d OpenClaw, alongside this catchy expression, has spread among Chinese citizens in a flash.<\/p>\n
Seminars throughout the country are attracting hordes of attendees toward sharing the know-how to effectively wield OpenClaw.<\/p>\n
One such event in Shanghai was held by an information technology provider on March 13. About 500 participants turned out, nearly filling the venue.<\/p>\n
A woman from the food industry said she was participating at her employer\u2019s direction and that she was \u201clooking for a useful tool to render my work more efficient.\u201d<\/p>\n
A man in his 20s from the telecommunications industry indicated he was still feeling his way, remarking that OpenClaw \u201cmight prove helpful for product research and development.\u201d He likewise stressed that he wanted to \u201cride the wave of the times.\u201d<\/p>\n
Another male twentysomething worker in the telecommunications business referred to \u201cserious relevant risks\u201d and mentioned his plan to \u201cwait and see first and foremost.\u201d<\/p>\n
Driving this growing fad is the Chinese government’s policy of promoting the active usage of AI. Beijing now puts priority on not only the research and development of AI but also its aggressive application across all sectors of society.<\/p>\n
Local governments and corporations are exploring distinctive ways to leverage AI for \u201cgrowth\u201d under the state\u2019s leadership.<\/p>\n
Tencent, Alibaba Group, Baidu and other leading information technology firms are launching related services as well as seminars on OpenClaw as if in competition with each other.<\/p>\n
Their hope is to expand the sales of their services, because the cloud systems they offer are indispensable for people to draw on AI agents.<\/p>\n
On top of that, a range of companies from the manufacturing sector to the service industry are spontaneously making concerted efforts to benefit from OpenClaw.<\/p>\n
They are seeking to deploy the \u201cdigitized employee\u201d to their departments for accounting, finance, product planning and the like to expedite daily operations and reduce staffing costs.<\/p>\n
Another motivation for business people lies in the expectations that utilizing OpenClaw may help lower the barrier to founding single-member entrepreneurial corporations.<\/p>\n
Vying for economic growth, regional governments across China are extending support to accelerating the latest trend as well.<\/p>\n
The Longgang district of Shenzhen city in Guangdong province unveiled its specialized measures on March 7.<\/p>\n
Its subsidy program, for example, is designed to cover information technology companies that develop and supply dedicated services for facilitating the smooth introduction of OpenClaw. Also eligible for the financial assistance are corporations that have implemented and utilized OpenClaw in their daily tasks.<\/p>\n
The tactics of the district also include a generous assistance mechanism specifically for single-member firms.<\/p>\n
Similar policies have successively been announced by Wuxi and Changshu cities in Jiangsu province along with Hefei city in Anhui province.<\/p>\n
In the meantime, several authorities involved are urging caution against the potential hazards of OpenClaw, pointing in particular to information leakage and loss of control.<\/p>\n
The Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, which is responsible for internet industry policy in China, called on users on March 11 to pay the utmost attention to safety when relying on OpenClaw. It described the AI model\u2019s \u201chigh degree of authority and autonomy\u201d as \u201ca double-edged sword.\u201d<\/p>\n
Other multiple organizations, such as the Ministry of State Security, have issued warnings in the same vein.<\/p>\n
The U.S. Bloomberg News has reported, citing some sources, that Chinese authorities notified government agencies and state-owned enterprises to restrict the use of OpenClaw.<\/p>\n
(This article was written by Nen Satomi in Shanghai and Yuriko Suzuki in Beijing.)<\/p>\n
PHOTO CAPTION<\/p>\n
(1) The website for the OpenClaw artificial intelligence agent as of April 20. The photo was taken in Shanghai. (Nen Satomi)<\/p>\n
(2) A seminar is organized on March 13 in Shanghai by an information technology firm to share the basics and development background of OpenClaw. (Nen Satomi)<\/p>\n
(3) The headquarters of Tencent is seen in Shenzhen, China, on April 17. (Nen Satomi)<\/p>\n
(4) A signboard promotes a seminar on OpenClaw under the title \u201cHow Single-Member Firms Should Safely Use the Crayfish\u201d on March 20 in Beijing. (Yuriko Suzuki)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"OpenClaw, an autonomous artificial intelligence agent, is exploding in popularity in China despite a warning from the central…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":33534,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[405,7537,3739,21415,387,703,66],"class_list":{"0":"post-33533","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-agentic-ai","8":"tag-ai-agents","9":"tag-artificial-intelligence-agents","10":"tag-asahi-shimbun","11":"tag-asia-world","12":"tag-china","13":"tag-japan","14":"tag-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33533","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=33533"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33533\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/33534"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=33533"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=33533"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=33533"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}