How China fell for a lobster: What an AI assistant tells us about Beijing's ambition

14 hours ago

Fan Wang and

Yan Chen

AFP via Getty Images

AI agent OpenClaw sparked a frenzy in China in March, with users "raising lobsters" - training the tool to suit their needs

"Are you a lobster?" is the first question Wang had for the BBC.

He had been so consumed recently by the AI assistant OpenClaw - which in China has earned the name "lobster" - that he wondered if he was talking to AI, rather than a journalist.

After being assured he was not, the young IT engineer explained how he had "fallen deep into" AI and, especially, OpenClaw.

Driven by encouragement from the very top of China's leadership, the world's second-biggest economy has embraced artificial intelligence, sparking both curiosity and concern.

OpenClaw, built by Austrian developer Peter Steinberger, is an example of how this is playing out.

Because it is built on open-source data and tech, the code is available to those who want to customise it…