The OpenClaw-ification of AI

Today we are talking about why it seems like every single product in AI is starting to resemble OpenClaw.

Welcome back to the AI daily brief. I am

finally back in the studio after not only a couple weeks abroad in South America, but also three non-stop days of travel. I think I can say fairly

travel. I think I can say fairly confidently that I have never in the entire time I've been doing this show been as disconnected from the AI news as I was for the last 3 days. And so coming

back to it, as I was looking through all of the news that I had missed, the big question for this show was going to be what was the most important theme that I had missed that I wanted to focus this first main episode on. The answer, I

believe, is the open clawification of AI. A phenomenon where more and more

AI. A phenomenon where more and more products in the AI space are starting to resemble OpenClaw in ways that I believe are about something much bigger than just trying to compete with a hot project. So, let's talk first about some

project. So, let's talk first about some of the feature announcements that inspired this show. Right at the top, we have Claude Code's new remote control feature. It is exactly what it sounds

feature. It is exactly what it sounds like and brings a thing that people have wanted forever and that numerous startups have built around to the mainstream, which is the ability to code with cloud code from your phone. On

Tuesday, Anthropic posted new and cloud code remote control. Kick off a task in your terminal and pick it up from your phone while you take a walk or join a meeting. Cloud keeps running on your

meeting. Cloud keeps running on your machine and you can control the session from the Claude app or cloud.ai/code.

Some of the first reactions were to joke about the social life implications of this. Creo wrote, "Ananthropic just

this. Creo wrote, "Ananthropic just saved the San Francisco nightlife." And

yet for most, the very clear comparison was in fact OpenClaw. App's metapreston

writes, "This is the only reason I wanted Claudebot." Investor and content

wanted Claudebot." Investor and content creator Sarah Dichi writes, "Okay, I guess I don't need to try Claudebot anymore." Guy Brettton calls it OpenClaw

anymore." Guy Brettton calls it OpenClaw for grown-ups. And Ali K. Miller says,

for grown-ups. And Ali K. Miller says,

"This is the feature I've been waiting for. I work from my phone for hours

for. I work from my phone for hours every day. Remote control is about to

every day. Remote control is about to turn me into a clawed code maniac. So,

one of the big things that people love about OpenClaw is the ability to interact with your agents via Telegram.

And that's not because Telegram is necessarily the best experience when you're sitting in front of a computer.

It's because using Telegram or WhatsApp or whatever chat app you've connected it to makes it so that you can interact with your agents on the go. This was

certainly one of the first things that attracted me to OpenClaw was the ability to have an onthe-go coding agent so I could keep working on my projects when I wasn't sitting in front of the laptop.

Lots of other people clearly felt similarly. Nate Herk writes, "Claw Code

similarly. Nate Herk writes, "Claw Code just added what everyone wanted. With

remote control, you essentially have Claude code in your pocket so that you can check in on progress and continue to assign work as you're out and about."

Some even went so far as to argue that the use cases for Open Claw in this new remote control feature might actually end up being a little bit different.

They wrote, "Claw Code is your work engine. It's a professional terminal

engine. It's a professional terminal tool. It lives in your codebase to write

tool. It lives in your codebase to write functions, run tests, and open PRs while you walk the dog. OpenClaw is your life engine. It's an always on butler. It's

engine. It's an always on butler. It's

better for managing your calendar, booking flights, or texting your mom.

Why the remote control is different?

First is native versus messaging.

Openclaw talks to you through Telegram or WhatsApp. Cloud Code remote control

or WhatsApp. Cloud Code remote control gives you a dedicated web or mobile terminal bridge to your local hardware.

Deep context. Cloud code is aware of your specific dev environment. It knows

your repo, your node modules, and your local CLI tools. Session versus Butler.

You boot up Cloud Code for a work session. Open Claw stays running 24/7 on

session. Open Claw stays running 24/7 on your machine or VPS. From a pragmatic usage perspective, use Cloud Code to start a heavy refactor, head to a meeting, and check the diffs on your phone. Use OpenClaw to stay on top of

phone. Use OpenClaw to stay on top of your notifications and general digital existence while you're away from your keyboard. If you want a code from your

keyboard. If you want a code from your pocket with surgical precision, get Clawed Code. If you want a 24/7 digital

Clawed Code. If you want a 24/7 digital butler, keep OpenClaw. Now, what I don't totally agree with here is the idea that OpenClaw is only for these sort of personal use cases like managing your calendar or booking flights. In fact, as

I mentioned in my video from a couple weeks ago about my OpenClaw setup, my most useful agents are my research agents that are running 24/7 and updating information that's both useful for this show as well as for some of our ecosystem projects like AIDB

intelligence. But I think two things.

intelligence. But I think two things.

First of all, the points about why this is going to be so valuable to people from a coding perspective because it plugs into the main system that people are already using in the form of cloud code is I think true. One of the reasons

I believe that I found myself using my remote coder openclaw agent a little bit less is the context gap between it and where I'm doing most of my other projects. The second thing that I think

projects. The second thing that I think is relevant about Interown's post is that even if one doesn't agree with the idea of how open claw is characterized here, the actual underlying point is

that we're in a broader paradigm shift of agentification and that there are going to be different tools and different platforms that have similar types of setups and similar types of interactive modes, but with very

different use cases. Whatever the use cases end up being, remote control hit like gang busters. Claude code PM Noah Zebin had to come back to Twitter the day after the announcement to apologize for the capacity issues that they had

run into on their end and to ensure that a broader rollout was coming. For some

remote control was just further evidence of how fast Anthropic is moving.

Anonymous AI rumor account I rule the world writes have now shipped OpenClaw.

Dario and the gang are unfathomably ahead and their velocity is insane. It's

a fair observation that they may have reached escape velocity crushing every benchmark eating enterprise department of warbegging. One of the labs made a

of warbegging. One of the labs made a huge breakthrough.

Still others like LLM junkie Am Will noted that what mattered here wasn't so much anthropic picking up on clawed code features but starting to see the new primitives of a new modality of AI

coming to the four. They write this is the first official phone to local machine integration from any major AI lab but not the last. This will become widely adopted. Anthropic however was

widely adopted. Anthropic however was not done. Just one day later, they

not done. Just one day later, they returned to X to announce a new feature, this time for co-work called scheduled tasks. Once again, it was exactly what

tasks. Once again, it was exactly what it sounds like. They wrote, "Claude can now complete recurring tasks at specific times automatically. A morning brief,

times automatically. A morning brief, weekly spreadsheet updates, Friday team presentations." They also write, "It

presentations." They also write, "It gets better with plugins, which give co-work domain expertise across design, engineering, operations, and more. Also,

we're adding a new customized tab in your co-work sidebar, one place to manage your plug-in skills and connectors. Now, going back to the idea

connectors. Now, going back to the idea of the clawification of AI. If you've

listened to my episodes about OpenClaw or if you've tried it out yourself, you'll know that a big part of the magic is the way that it interacts with scheduled tasks. First, OpenClaw agents

scheduled tasks. First, OpenClaw agents have something called a heartbeat, which is basically a reminder the time interval of which you can set, but which is every 30 minutes by default, where effectively the agent reminds itself to remember its mission and to go keep

working if it perhaps has lapsed in the previous period of time since the last heartbeat. On top of that are cron jobs

heartbeat. On top of that are cron jobs where basically you can tell an agent to do a specific thing at a specific time.

When you dig into Open Claw, it turns out that a lot of what the magic is is just being able to schedule tasks at certain times. Across my five project

certain times. Across my five project manager agents, they all have different schedules for the couple times a day when they check in with me either to remind me of all the to-do lists or to go interact with external sources to

find the state of different projects.

And so this idea of scheduled tasks feels once again not like anthropic trying to compete with openclaw but instead recognizing a new primitive in agentic AI. That didn't stop people

agentic AI. That didn't stop people making the comparison. However, content

creator Ole Lemon shared the post and said openclaw for normies has landed.

Akash Gupta gets that part of the paradigm shift is that AI that works continuously without you having to prompt it every time. He writes

scheduled tasks means claude stopped being software you talk to and became software that works while you sleep.

That's a category change, not a feature update. Now, he along with lots of

update. Now, he along with lots of others also pointed out that this is unlikely to make Wall Street, which was already nervous about every new announcement from Anthropic, any less scared about the implications for white collar work. Later in the same post, he

collar work. Later in the same post, he writes, "A morning brief that compiles overnight Slack activity, email threads, and calendar changes before you wake up.

A weekly spreadsheet that pulls data, runs formulas, and drops a formatted Excel file into your folder every Friday. Contractor reminders that fire

Friday. Contractor reminders that fire at 3 p.m. without anyone remembering to send them. Each of those tasks used to

send them. Each of those tasks used to be a SAS product, a Zapier workflow, or a junior employees morning routine. Now

they're a single line in a scheduling interface running on a $20 a month subscription. Sitebringer writes, "Chat

subscription. Sitebringer writes, "Chat was a toy. Scheduled tasks is a labor primitive. When a model can do work on a

primitive. When a model can do work on a schedule inside your tools without you asking, it stops being helped. It

becomes the cheapest employee on Earth."

Now, this particular episode is not about white collar job displacement and the concerns there. But I will say just for posterity that I think that the idea that the only implication for this will be the elimination of employees rather

than the mass empowerment of employees to do more will seem in retrospect fairly reductionist. Developer Simon

fairly reductionist. Developer Simon Willis wrote a note about testing these new features, both of which he notes overlap with OpenClaw. And while all the Twitter commentators were breathless, he pointed out that these features are

still early. To use his words, for

still early. To use his words, for example, remote control is a little bit janky right now. Now, funny enough, at the end of his post about remote control, he said, "It's interesting to contrast this to solutions like OpenClaw, where one of the big selling

points is the ability to control your personal device from your phone. Claude

Code still doesn't have a documented mechanism for running things on a schedule, which is the other killer feature of the claw category of software." Of course, he then had to

software." Of course, he then had to update it. I spoke too soon, sharing

update it. I spoke too soon, sharing that Anthropic had now announced scheduled tasks as well. He did point out one limitation that scheduled tasks only run while your computer is awake and the claw desktop app is open.

Basically, if the computer is asleep or the app is closed, when that task is scheduled to run, co-work skips it and then runs it automatically once it wakes up or the app is opened up again. Now,

it is certainly the case that local device management is a whole new aspect of this. I just experienced this by

of this. I just experienced this by being out of the country for two weeks as the Hudson Valley got hammered by snowstorm after snowstorm, knocking the power out and my machines off without automatic startup procedures that left

me open clawless for a big chunk of the time down there. Now, importantly, while Anthropic was the big company that got everyone talking about this open clawification, the pattern was exhibit elsewhere as well. On Wednesday,

Perplexity announced Perplexity Computer, writing, "Computer unifies every current AI capability into one system. It can research, design, code,

system. It can research, design, code, deploy, and manage any project. End to

end. Computer orchestrates models to run agents in parallel, leveraging Opus to match each task to the model best suited for it. Perplexity computer they write

for it. Perplexity computer they write is what a personal computer in 2026 should be. It's personal to you,

should be. It's personal to you, remembers your past work, and is secure by default. Hundreds of connectors,

by default. Hundreds of connectors, persistent memory, files, and web access, all built on top of perplexity infrastructure. Go from a single task to

infrastructure. Go from a single task to hundreds of active projects. Google

senior AI project manager Shibbam Sabhu writes, "Perplexity just launched their own openclaw. Composable computers is

own openclaw. Composable computers is all you need." Perplexity CEO Arvin Trinabas wrote, "What has Perplexity been up to the last 2 months? We've

silently been working on the next big thing, Perplexity Computer." In a blog post surrounding the announcement called the AI is the computer, he basically made an argument that the differentiator for Perplexity's version of OpenClaw was

that it only had access to anthropics models and hammered on the idea that with Plexity you get 19 models available so that the right task can find the right model. He writes, "AI models are

right model. He writes, "AI models are becoming so capable that the products built around them have been a bottleneck for showing their true potential. The

chat UI is good for answers and agents are good for individual tasks.

Meanwhile, the UI for entire workflows has always been the computer. AI is now firmly multimodal. It understands and

firmly multimodal. It understands and generates many forms of data in a single coherent system. Jensen Hong and others

coherent system. Jensen Hong and others have said that the future of AI must also be multimodal. They're right.

Specialized models must collaborate like a team. As AI replaces more of the

a team. As AI replaces more of the function of the computer itself, the central activity of the computer will be massively multimodal orchestration. So

now we've got anthropic getting clawified, Plexity getting clawified.

Who else? Well, I'm holding OpenAI aside because they obviously got Peter Steinberger, the creator of OpenClaw, to come join them. But we're also seeing it in the product companies. Also on

Tuesday, Notion announced their custom agents features. And sure enough, it had

agents features. And sure enough, it had a lot of familiar value propositions in the pitch. Notion calls custom agents

the pitch. Notion calls custom agents the AI team that never sleeps. They're

autonomous, built for teams, and easy for anyone to build. Give them a job, set a trigger or schedule, and they'll get it done round the clock. Most AI

waits for you to ask. Custom agents just go route bugs to the right place, answer questions, update docs, draft weekly updates, and ping the right people.

They're multiplayer, model agnostic, and built for every team, not just the technical ones. Creator Andrew Warner

technical ones. Creator Andrew Warner writes, "Notion just launched OpenClaw for regular people. Pros, no need to buy a Mac Mini. Very visual, so anyone can use it. Runs automations based on time,

use it. Runs automations based on time, Slack messages, notion comments, etc. And your team doesn't need to know terms like cron job, pseudo, or CLI. The cons,

he pointed out, is that you need to buy a seat for each person on your team or no one gets it, which when you've got a lot of people in Notion, could be problematic." A couple weeks earlier, we

problematic." A couple weeks earlier, we also saw Air Table launch something in the same family called Super Agent, which honestly feels a little bit closer to the paradigm of Manis or GenSpark, but is still pushing a new similar

clawified territory. Now, I think it

clawified territory. Now, I think it would be a mistake to view all of these moves as companies trying to quote unquote catch up with OpenClaw. I don't

even think that they're particularly focused on the competition with OpenClaw. I don't think they're trying

OpenClaw. I don't think they're trying to harness or latch on to the lightning in a bottle that OpenClaw captured. What

I think instead is that they're all an acknowledgement that OpenClaw was the first to, if not see, at least to popularize what AI looks like going forward. Interactive modalities that

forward. Interactive modalities that follow you wherever you are and are not contingent upon one device or another.

Persistent work that happens without you having to prompt it. Agenta capabilities

that can interact with all of your personal context and which you can give permission to use your systems to do things. The point is that these are not

things. The point is that these are not features to be copied. They are new fundamental primitives of the agentic era that we're moving into. they will

become ubiquitous because they unlock a new set of things that people very clearly want. Now, one thing that I do

clearly want. Now, one thing that I do disagree with very heartily is the idea that because these features are getting easier and better productized, you should just skip the whole OpenClaw setup phase. Many will do that and it's

setup phase. Many will do that and it's reasonable, but one of the best reasons to actually do the hard work of setting up OpenClaw now is that it's going to give you a better education in understanding these primitives than will the products where they're abstracted

away. Certainly, most people will not

away. Certainly, most people will not take the time to do that, but if you're listening to this show, I know you are not most people. In any case, I expect that this open clawification of AI continues throughout the year, and

ultimately the claw is seen not just as some hype phase confined to the junk of history, but as the starting gun for a totally new era of AI. Thanks for

listening or watching as always. Great

to be back with you guys. Until next

time peace.