Original|Odaily Planet Daily(@OdailyChina)
Author|Wenser(@wenser 2010)
On March 2, OpenClaw finally surpassed React to become the project with the most stars on GitHub, thus rising to become the "most recognized tool" among programmers at the moment.
In just over two months, this AI project focused on automated execution has rapidly swept through global discussion forums. Almost everyone is racking their brains to "adopt a lobster," trying to use it to complete various goals, projecting expectations like believers making wishes.
Spring river water warms, ducks know first; changes often happen first among the most敏锐嗅ally敏锐的人群. At the end of February, some active figures in the币圈, represented by Nano Labs founder Kong Jianping and TRON founder孙宇晨,联合 allies like CAI under Meituan's Cai Wensheng to launch the "Web4.0 China Tour" nationwide offline event. Crowds flocked to it instantly, reminiscent of the days when "every conversation had to mention Web3,加密,元宇宙, NFT".
As industry observers active in the intersection of AI and加密, Odaily Planet Daily辗转 interviewed multiple现场 participants and compiled some "post-event impressions" to还原 this "AI counter-siege campaign" initiated by humans.
Web3 is Dead, Web4 Rises: The AI Anxiety Ignited by OpenClaw
In the first week after the New Year, a chart circulating in various WeChat groups率先 ignited discussion: Clawdbot ranked first—this was one of OpenClaw's early names (another was Moltbot).
After密集刷屏 of messages like "2028 AI Doomsday Prophecy" and Block laying off 4,000 people, the internet群体 quickly fell into a collective "AI anxiety": if you don't know about the "lobster" yet, it's like not knowing about Douyin, Clubhouse, or ChatGPT back in the day, meaning you're already behind.
Thus, offline events framed with the "Web4.0 China Tour" narrative and centered on OpenClaw rapidly heated up. The远超预期的报名 and attendance numbers also pushed technical concepts like AI Agent and "lobster robots" to a broader audience.
On-Site Sketch: AI Has Moved from Narrative to Reality
Photos released by 1783 DAO from the Beijing stop showed a packed house; @Wayne, who participated in the Beijing event, told us he initially saw KOLs转发 the information on X, then searched via Xiaohongshu and Luma, and within a few days had attended three offline events in a row.
In his view, the现场 showed obvious "polarization": some had already run businesses and earned dollars, while others didn't even know how to buy cloud servers;同时, "generational differences" were also apparent—05后 are starting to enter, 00后 entrepreneurs are common, 90后 are still the fastest-acting group, while the older generation came more with anxiety about being left behind by the times.
Another小伙伴 who helped organize the OpenClaw Lobster Gathering in Shenzhen, @0xqiuqiuu, offered a different perspective.
As a community运营 for OpenBuild, Qiuqiu sees that the biggest beneficiaries of this wave of AI-driven efficiency gains are companies and bosses, and it also provides more convenient efficiency tools for "one-person companies," independent developers, and creators to boost output.
Furthermore, the Shenzhen event had many white-haired elderly participants, and parents brought their young daughters and sons to participate. The age range went up to over 70 years old and down to 11 years old. This is also a point that distinguishes it from the previous knowledge付费 courses that打着 the banner of "9.9 yuan to teach you how to use AI." AI has gradually渗透 into all人群 and most industries. And the best way to alleviate "AI anxiety disorder" is not to sit back and wait, but to embrace AI, use AI, and use concrete actions to combat虚无的情绪.
As for "whether AI will replace jobs or humans," some interviewees gave a negative answer.
@币圈离镜, who works in Web3 industry interviews, pointed out that AI will not replace humans; instead, more positions will be born because of AI. (This is similar to the "Jevons Paradox" we mentioned earlier,详见 "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重构 over 50% of work structures. Specifically, he believes replacing "position" ≠ replacing "person," so what is actually being replaced are "task modules." AI will优先 replace the highly structured, standardized parts. For example, managers who used to manage humans and organize coordination might be replaced by managers who can manage AI employees.
Incidentally, a research study released yesterday by Anthropic, "AI Labor Market Impact," found that occupations previously thought to be least impacted by AI, such as programmers, lawyers, educators, artists, as well as white-collar workers and salespeople, are actually the most impacted by AI; conversely, occupations like construction workers, farmers, repairmen, caregivers, security guards, and restaurant waiters that AI cannot do in the short term are less impacted.
In other words, AI can already cover the vast majority of the work content of programmers, educators, artists, and written work professionals, including the visible impact on live-action movies, short dramas, and TV series after the emergence of Seedance 2.0; offline manual laborers are, of course, not easily replaced by AI.
When OpenClaw Meets the币圈: The Prelude to the AI Economy
Although OpenClaw founder Peter Steinberger has publicly advised young people to stay away from cryptocurrency (Recommended reading: When Openclaw Founder Advises Young People to Stay Away from Crypto), many practitioners still believe that AI Agent and the加密 system have a natural coupling.
@币圈离镜直言: "Human wealth relies on fiat currency settlement, while AI's wealth is more likely to rely on加密 assets." (We discussed this logic earlier in "When AI Agent Becomes Sentient, Stablecoin = Dollar API.")
Many participants said they preferred to pay 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 a 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 an important bridge for AI to access the real economy.
It is worth mentioning that, despite the founder's克制 attitude, OpenClaw has still recommended the加密 privacy AI platform Venice.ai. Reality once again proves: industry boundaries are always determined by products and efficiency, not立场. (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'
Lately, "door-to-door OpenClaw installation" has formed a complete paid industry chain on某鱼,某宝,某书; Tencent Cloud's offline installation assistance has also attracted attention. The story shared on the卡兹克 public account about "spending 499 to experience door-to-door OpenClaw installation" is津津乐道 by everyone.
However, among the majority of participants we contacted, there are still大量 users stuck at the installation stage, not knowing how to truly use it. Moreover, most people using OpenClaw are still using the easy installation versions provided by various AI model companies or platforms. What's more, some, after finally排队 and getting OpenClaw installed by the Tencent Cloud team, let it run automatically due to unfamiliarity with operation, ultimately incurring a not-small token consumption fee, and then angrily criticized Tencent Cloud for having难看吃相.
It must be said that in the face of new technology, the opposite of FOMO may be potential security risks and unknown operational risks caused by excessive permissions.
Therefore, for most people, there's no need to be overly anxious. What truly matters is never "I also have a lobster," but "whether my AI is truly solving problems and producing results."
In the era of coexisting with AI, many people may start early, but大概率 will only catch the late show.
