The first batch of "lobster farmers" has already started paying to hire people for "on-site uninstallations."

After the popularity of OpenClaw, the first to profit was door-to-door installation. However, in less than a week, “uninstallation” services also became a new business.

Door-to-door Uninstallation “Lobster” Service Emerges, Quoted Lower Than “Installation”

Recently, the AI model OpenClaw has gone viral across the internet, making “door-to-door installation” a hot topic. Previously, Blue Whale News investigation found that due to the certain barriers to installing the open-source intelligent agent OpenClaw, the “paid door-to-door installation of OpenClaw” business exploded. Prices ranged from 500 yuan to over a thousand yuan per session, but this did not dampen the public’s enthusiasm for AI. Some service providers revealed they could receive about 30 inquiries in a day, and a netizen claimed to have earned 260,000 yuan from this business.

However, the rapid rise also brought various issues, and OpenClaw quickly shifted from “installation” to “uninstallation.”

Blue Whale News found on second-hand trading platforms that many “door-to-door uninstallation of OpenClaw” services are now listed. Service details state: “Professional remote/door-to-door uninstallation, safe, clean, and residue-free,” while some posts claim “door-to-door uninstallation relieves your AI anxiety,” “one visit, thorough removal, protecting the best of humanity,” and “cures all kinds of AI addiction, token depletion anxiety, Riemann hypothesis obsession…”

Although it sounds like a joke, multiple shop owners confirmed to Blue Whale News that “door-to-door uninstallation” services do exist. “Some people are already consulting about it. Some are worried about safety risks, others think it’s too costly.” Compared to the cost of “installation,” “uninstallation” is significantly cheaper, ranging from 29.9 to 299 yuan. One shop owner told Blue Whale News: “It’s definitely cheaper. Uninstallation isn’t as complicated as installation, and you don’t need to explain to the customer how to use it, so it’s much more convenient.”

“Lobster” Trial Frenzy

Although OpenClaw was officially released as early as November 2025, it only recently gained widespread attention, and “raising lobsters” has become an absolute hot topic.

The “lobster craze” first spread among major tech companies. Almost simultaneously, domestic internet tech firms launched one-click deployment services for OpenClaw, tailored for different scenarios. Xiaomi released a similar mobile product, Xiaomi Miclaw, and began internal testing; Tencent’s “Lobster” WorkBuddy was officially launched recently; ByteDance’s Volcano Engine also launched ArkClaw on the same day…

This “lobster fever” has also prompted continuous policy support from various local governments.

On March 8, Shenzhen Longgang District’s AI (robot) bureau publicly solicited opinions on the “Measures for Supporting the Development of OpenClaw & OPC in Longgang District” (draft for comments). The measures include ten support points for OpenClaw and OPC development, such as encouraging market-oriented, professional platform services to launch “Lobster Service Zones,” offering free deployment services for OpenClaw, and providing subsidies for qualified projects; supporting the development and promotion of OpenClaw-like intelligent agent tools, among others.

On March 9, Wuxi High-tech Zone issued the “Measures for Supporting the Integration of OpenClaw and Other Open Source Community Projects with the OPC Community” (draft for comments).

Changshu also released the “Measures to Accelerate the Development of OpenClaw and Other Open Source Communities to Promote High-Quality Industry Development” (draft for comments), with 13 initiatives focusing on AI empowering high-quality industry growth and building a nationally leading AI+ innovation application demonstration zone.

The First Victims of OpenClaw Have Already Appeared

However, alongside the hype, the hidden risks and problems of OpenClaw are gradually surfacing.

The most obvious risk relates to costs. Compared to the 500 yuan per installation fee, ongoing use of OpenClaw has become a “token money sink.”

A blogger posted that over the weekend, they deployed OpenClaw on their computer: “In one night, I just asked a few questions, had it help me check some data, and 1 million tokens were gone, plus I owed money…” Guojin Securities analysts pointed out that the surge in OpenClaw’s popularity has driven a spike in token consumption. According to OpenRouter, OpenClaw currently ranks first in App & Agent popularity, with a total token consumption reaching 8.52 trillion.

Another major concern is security.

According to Beijing Daily, Summer Yue, Director of AI Alignment and Safety at Meta Superintelligence Laboratory, recently experienced an out-of-control incident with OpenClaw, where over 200 emails in her personal inbox were deleted. “Nothing is more devastating than commanding OpenClaw to ‘confirm before operating,’ then watching it rapidly delete inbox contents.”

The Ministry of Public Security’s Cybersecurity Level Protection Center recently issued a warning that OpenClaw is a typical “execution-type intelligent agent,” whose core capability is not generating text but executing operations. This means its security risks have extended from content safety to real system-level threats.

Additionally, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology also issued an alert, warning that open-source AI agent OpenClaw poses high security risks under default or improper configurations. The MIIT pointed out that some instances of OpenClaw may lack sufficient permission control or have configuration flaws, leading to network attacks, information leaks, and other security issues. It recommends relevant organizations and users verify exposure to public networks and strengthen permission management when deploying OpenClaw.

(Source: Blue Whale News)