Author: Blue Whale News

Blue Whale News, March 5 (Reporter Hao Yan) - The rapidly changing AI field has a new hit.

The recently popular AI model OpenClaw has been crowned as the "new generation super AI" online, with some even saying that if your circle hasn't been discussing OpenClaw lately, it must be an "old-school gathering".

OpenClaw is a "weekend project" initiated by retired Austrian programmer Peter Steinberger in November 2025, an open-source agent framework that grants large models local operating system permissions, enabling AI to execute Shell commands and operate the file system, achieving what is called "local proxy sovereignty". In other words, it is not just a chatbot but a true AI assistant capable of executing tasks.

However, unlike previous models like DeepSeek and ChatGPT that were easy to use, OpenClaw as an open-source agent project has some barriers to entry. This has turned early adopters into "OpenClaw installation service providers".

On-site installation starting at 500 yuan, programmers are starting new businesses

As the name suggests, "OpenClaw on-site installation" refers to individuals who specifically deploy OpenClaw for customers' computers offline. Currently, searching "lobster/OpenClaw on-site installation" on platforms like Xiaohongshu and Xianyu shows that the pricing for this service seems to have formed a market rate, ranging from 300 to 800 yuan, with 500 yuan per session being the most common price. In contrast, "remote installation" is much cheaper, costing around 50-100 yuan. Blue Whale News found that several related online stores have reported over 1000 sales, indicating the popularity of OpenClaw.

Blue Whale News reporters learned from several service providers that the typical "on-site" service includes: OpenClaw installation + model debugging + hands-on training, with the entire process taking over 2 hours.

Due to the certain entry barriers of OpenClaw's installation and usage, programmers have become the main force in "on-site installation". Xiaohongshu blogger "Xika wants freedom" shared her installation experience after trying OpenClaw, posting about it on her company's intranet, unexpectedly attracting many inquiries from colleagues. She found that there is strong enthusiasm and demand for OpenClaw, and she subsequently began posting about it on social media. "That night, people started reaching out to me for orders, with more than 30 inquiries in one day, but actually on-site installation is a physically demanding task, so I can't take all the orders, and I will have some screening."

With the popularity of OpenClaw, "on-site installation" has seemingly become a hot track, with many starting to "enhance their services". Some claim on detail pages "guarantee teaching until proficient", others offer "24/7 support for any issues", and there are even those who not only "deploy on-site" but also provide "cooking services once, capable of making home-cooked meals." The direction of "service competition" in this industry is unexpectedly this.

In addition to individual operators, many "brokers" have also started connecting "on-site installation" services.

Blue Whale News discovered that some institutions previously engaged in computer repair and network maintenance have begun recruiting "on-site installers" on social media, gathering them in communities for unified distribution of orders. The recruitment demands explicitly mention that programmers are limited but require some "explanatory skills". Orders come from various sources; aside from AI-dense cities like Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, and Shenzhen, there is also related demand in major cities across the country such as Suzhou, Wuhan, Xi'an, and Chengdu.

Is OpenClaw on-site installation a genuine need or a "anxiety tax"?

Blue Whale News reporters learned from several programmers engaged in "lobster on-site installation" that currently, apart from some self-media workers or those in cross-border e-commerce with clear needs, many clients have not really figured out what they want to do with OpenClaw. "Many are just curious after seeing it online and want to deploy it first, but they haven't thought about what to use it for specifically."

Serial entrepreneur and product and technology expert Zhu Feng told Blue Whale News reporters that how much OpenClaw can meet the work needs of ordinary people remains in doubt. "Deploying OpenClaw is not a simple installation issue; it involves a series of configurations. The types of models and capabilities assigned to you directly affect your usage experience. Additionally, some platforms currently cannot smoothly support such automated calls due to risk control, copyright, and commercialization considerations. Within this closed ecosystem, the actual capabilities of OpenClaw will be quite limited. So while self-media is hyping this up, there is still a long way to go for ordinary people to implement it. It is actually more important for ordinary people to effectively utilize the existing model capabilities rather than spending 500 yuan on this."

This is another side of the OpenClaw craze.

The explosive popularity of OpenClaw has once again created an atmosphere of "AI entering a new era": tech bloggers eagerly review it, entrepreneurial bloggers showcase starting from zero frames, and even course-selling experts have shifted to "how to achieve OpenClaw freedom," with view counts reaching hundreds of thousands, accompanied by titles like "AI Awakening" and "Workers Completely Liberated," elevating OpenClaw to a pedestal. The fear of being left behind by the times among ordinary people is magnified in this atmosphere: "If I don’t install OpenClaw, will I be eliminated?" "Everyone else is working efficiently with AI, and I’m still manually copying and pasting..."

In "Xika wants freedom's" view, anxiety does exist. "As someone in the internet industry, we are also quite anxious. We worry that if we can’t catch up with the AI wave, traditional jobs like coding and operations will be replaced by AI. The most anxious may be exactly these individuals who have already achieved certain results in their professional fields, so they clearly understand that there are many capabilities in their professional field that can be quickly replaced. Everyone is looking for skills that AI cannot replace."

But at the same time, "Xika wants freedom" also believes that actively engaging with these new tools is meaningful. "Perhaps I just install it now to understand its capabilities, and it may not be immediately applicable, but one day in the future, I might suddenly think of a use case for it, and that’s when I can create something. Rather than looking for a hammer because there is a nail."

The explosive popularity of OpenClaw acts like a mirror, exposing the widespread technological anxiety in society, but also showcasing the infinite possibilities of technological advancement.

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