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 programmer communities at the moment.
In just over two months, this AI project focused on automated execution has rapidly swept across global discussion platforms. Almost everyone is racking their brains to "adopt a lobster," attempting to use it to complete various goals, projecting expectations like believers making wishes.
Spring river water warms, ducks know first; changes often occur among the most敏锐嗅ally sharp groups. At the end of February, some active figures in the crypto circle, represented by Nano Labs founder Kong Jianping and TRON founder Sun Yuchen,联合 launched the "Web4.0 China Tour" nationwide offline event with allies like CAI under Meituan's Cai Wensheng. Crowds flocked to it instantly, reminiscent of the days when everyone talked about Web3, crypto, metaverse, and NFT.
As industry observers active at the intersection of AI and crypto, Odaily Planet Daily辗转 interviewed multiple现场 participants and compiled some "post-participation impressions," attempting to还原 this "AI counter-siege battle" initiated by humans.
Web3 is Dead, Web4 Rises: The AI Anxiety Ignited by OpenClaw
In the first week after the Chinese New Year, a chart circulating in various WeChat groups率先 ignited discussion: Clawdbot ranked first—this was one of the early names for OpenClaw (another was Moltbot).
After密集刷屏 messages like the "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 Activity Side Note: AI Has Moved from Narrative to Reality
Photos released by 1783 DAO for the Beijing stop showed a full house; @Wayne, who participated in the Beijing event, told us he initially saw KOLs reposting 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—post-05s started entering, post-00s entrepreneurs were common, post-90s were still the fastest acting group, while the earlier generation came more with anxiety about being left behind by the times.
Another小伙伴 who helped organize the OpenClaw Lobster Meetup Shenzhen stop, @0xqiuqiuu, offered a different perspective.
As a community operator for OpenBuild, Qiuqiu observed 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, as well as parents bringing their young daughters and sons. The age range went up to over 70 years old and down to 11 years old. This is different from the previous knowledge付费 courses that打着 "9.9 yuan to teach you AI" flags. AI has gradually penetrated all demographics and most industries. And the best way to alleviate "AI anxiety" is not to wait passively, but to embrace AI, use AI, and use concrete actions to counter虚无的情绪.
As for "whether AI will replace jobs or humans," some interviewees gave negative answers.
@币圈离镜, engaged in Web3 industry interviews, pointed out that AI will not only not replace humans, but will also create more jobs due to AI. (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 restructure 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 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 "AI Labor Market Impact" released yesterday by Anthropic found that professions 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, construction workers, farmers, repairmen, caregivers, security guards, and restaurant servers—jobs that AI can't do easily in the short term—are less impacted.
In other words, AI can already cover most 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, of course, are not easily replaced by AI.
When OpenClaw Meets the Crypto Circle: The Prelude to an 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 stated bluntly: "Human wealth relies on fiat settlement, while AI's wealth is more likely to depend on crypto assets." (We discussed this logic earlier in "When AI Agents Become Sentient, Stablecoin = Dollar API.")
Many participants expressed a preference to pay event fees in BTC, hoping for earlier integration between Bitcoin payments and 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 cautious attitude, OpenClaw has still recommended the加密 privacy AI platform Venice.ai. Reality once again proves: industry boundaries are determined by products and efficiency, not立场. (Recommended reading: "OpenClaw Endorses Venice.ai, VVV Token Soars Over 500% in a Month")
Conclusion: What Matters is Not 'Having a Lobster,' but 'Using the Lobster'
Lately, "on-site OpenClaw installation" has formed a complete paid industry chain on Xianyu, Taobao, and Xiaohongshu; Tencent Cloud's offline installation assistance has attracted attention. The story shared on the Kazuo public account about "spending 499 to experience on-site OpenClaw installation" is津津乐道 among everyone.
However, among the majority of participants we contacted, many users are still stuck at the installation stage, not knowing how to truly utilize it. Moreover, most people using OpenClaw still employ the easy installation versions provided by various AI model companies or platforms. What's more, some finally managed to install OpenClaw with the help of the Tencent Cloud team after queuing offline, but due to unfamiliarity with operations, let it run automatically,最终 generating a not insignificant 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 might be potential security risks and unknown operational hazards caused by excessive permissions.
So, 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 actually solving problems and producing results."
In the era of coexisting with AI, many people might start early, but most will likely only catch the late show.
