China rushed to use OpenClaw. Now, some stressed-out users are forking out cash to uninstall the AI agent.
ADEK BERRY / AFP via Getty Images
- China's OpenClaw "lobster" craze has spawned a new business.
- People are charging to help others uninstall the AI agent amid security concerns.
- The trend comes as China moves to restrict OpenClaw in government agencies and state-owned firms.
China's OpenClaw hype created a new side hustle: charging people to install the AI agent, and now charging them again to uninstall it.
Business Insider on Thursday found numerous listings offering paid OpenClaw uninstall services on Chinese secondhand marketplaces like Xianyu, a resale platform owned by Chinese tech giant Alibaba.
Sellers are charging about 299 Chinese yuan, or $44, with some listings going up to $87.
Some promise to remove leftover files and viruses after removing the software, while others offer in-home services for a higher fee. Besides Xianyu, such listings can also be found on the Chinese social media platform RedNote.
Lee Chong Ming/Business Insider
The rush to uninstall the AI agent comes as China is moving to restrict OpenClaw's use in government agencies and state-run companies over security concerns.
Employees at these agencies, including major banks, have been told not to install the tool on work devices and must report to supervisors if they already have it, Bloomberg reported on Wednesday, citing people familiar with the matter.
OpenClaw began gaining traction among Chinese users last month, but the craze intensified last week as the phrase "raising the lobster" went viral on social media. The term — a nickname Chinese netizens use for deploying OpenClaw agents to automate tasks — quickly became shorthand for experimenting with the AI tool.
Many users were drawn to the idea that their "lobster" could handle everyday work, from managing schedules to building AI-powered assistants and even running small side businesses.
At Tencent's headquarters in Shenzhen last week, nearly a thousand people queued to get engineers' help installing OpenClaw for free, according to local media reports.
ADEK BERRY / AFP via Getty Images
Local governments are also backing the trend. Districts in Shenzhen and Wuxi have proposed incentives — including free housing, rent-free offices, and subsidies of up to $720,000 — to attract startups and developers building on OpenClaw.
Concerns about the software's security have surfaced, prompting some users to uninstall the agent quickly.
In early February, China's National Vulnerability Database, run by the country's Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, warned of potential security risks associated with the open-source AI agent.
It said improperly configured OpenClaw deployments could leave systems vulnerable to cyberattacks and data breaches.
Chinese users have also been posting guides on RedNote explaining how to uninstall OpenClaw and why they're removing the app.
'OpenClaw service economy'
On RedNote, users have been reacting to the money people are making from the trend.
"Loading lobsters costs 599, unloading them costs 299," one user wrote. The person offering those services is "making a killing," the user added.
Others have laughed at what they call the growing "OpenClaw service economy." Some have dubbed it the "lobster three-piece combo" — paying someone to install OpenClaw, paying another person to configure it, and then paying again to uninstall it once the hype fades.
"This business loop is ingenious," wrote one RedNote user who goes by Cyber Senior.
"This isn't embracing AI — it's paying the 'stupidity tax' twice," the user added.
In one RedNote post published last week, a user said some installers had earned as much as $36,000 in just a few days helping others set up and configure the software.