Commentary: China’s AI lobster craze comes with claws
CNA
Fervour for AI agent OpenClaw has consumed China in recent weeks but underneath the excitement, there are concerns, says Catherine Thorbecke for Bloomberg Opinion.
TOKYO: Over the past week, Chinese social media has been gripped by a single obsession - how to raise a lobster. Not in a tank, but on your laptop.
Fervour for OpenClaw, the AI agent created by Austrian developer Peter Steinberger, has consumed China in recent weeks, emerging from a niche, nerdy tool sporting a crustacean logo to a national obsession. The programme sits on top of a large language model and does more than just chat - it takes action.
Users can ask it to comb through emails, book travel, text your significant other “good morning” - or even trade crypto, depending on how much access you grant it. Hundreds of people, from school children to retirees, lined up outside of Tencent’s Shenzhen headquarters last Friday for a free OpenClaw installation event, a sign of how quickly domestic tech companies are pulling the foreign programme into their orbit.
A retired aviation engineer said he was just there to “keep up with the times”. A fourth-grader said he hoped to use it to help with his homework and to play games, according to videos shared by the tech giant. Elsewhere, entrepreneurs have been tinkering with the tool to create new apps, AI influencer businesses or just automate more parts of their life in a push for productivity.
BAGHDAD: Israel said the war against Iran was entering its "decisive phase" on Saturday (Mar 14), as explosions rocked cities across the Middle East, with strikes on the US embassy in Baghdad and a major Emirati energy facility.Black smoke rose above Washington's embassy in Iraq, AFP journalists saw, the seco
TOKYO: The United States can provide "reliable" energy supplies to Asia-Pacific, US Interior Secretary Doug Burgum said on Saturday (Mar 14), as the Middle East war cripples the region's oil and gas flow.
The oil will be released in the form of loans that companies will return with extra barrels as a premium, the US Energy Department said.
SHANGHAI: Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi told his Afghan counterpart Amir Khan Muttaqi in a phone call that disputes between Afghanistan and Pakistan should be resolved through dialogue and consultation, not
SEOUL/TOKYO: North Korea fired a projectile towards the sea on Saturday (Mar 14), South Korea and Japan said, with Tokyo saying it may have been a ballistic missile, while the US and South Korea conducted military drills.The projectile was fired toward the sea off North Korea's east coast, the South Korean mi
JAKARTA: Indonesia's senior economic minister said on Friday (Mar 13) that the country may impose additional taxes on certain commodities, such as palm oil, if the government needs to reduce the impact on the budget from risin
The United States has deployed its USS Tripoli amphibious assault ship to the Middle East, reports say, as the war with Iran enters its third week.
JAKARTA: Two men on a motorbike threw acid in the face of an Indonesian rights activist, leaving him badly hurt and prompting calls on Friday (Mar 13) for a thorough investigation amid concerns of democratic backsliding in the country.Andrie Yunus, deputy coordinator of the KontraS rights group, sustained se
The Malaysian government is in a strong position to absorb the higher costs due to the various fiscal reforms and consolidation measures implemented over the past three years, said Finance Minister II Amir Hamzah Azizan.
A second arms package, worth around US$14 billion, could be approved for Taiwan after US President Donald Trump visits Beijing later this month.
TEHRAN: Fresh strikes rocked Iran and several Gulf countries on Friday (Mar 13), as Israel and the Islamic Republic unleashed a new wave of attacks in a war that has ignited the Middle East and threatens to torpedo the wor
Thailand alleges that the area had been used as a base of operations by the Cambodian military as well as criminals running transnational scams.
"While starting a war is easy, it cannot be won with a few tweets. We will not relent until making you sorry for this grave miscalculation," says Iranian security chief Ali Larijani.