Remember OpenClaw? A humble AI tool that lived on your computer and did your bidding while you slept, OpenClaw went from zero to hero in the early weeks of 2026, blowing people’s minds with its impressive — and scary — agentic AI abilities while inspiring “claw” clones left and right.
Roughly eight months after its astonishing debut, the OpenClaw hype has largely faded, and not even the release of OpenClaw 2.0, complete with bolstered security and easier user onboarding, is likely to vault OpenClaw back into the limelight.
But while OpenClaw isn’t on everyone’s lips anymore, the arrival of its new and improved version serves as a reminder of how much it changed the game, ushering in an era of agentic AI that touches everything from ChatGPT Work and Claude Cowork to Google’s Gemini Spark and Nvidia’s own “claw”-inspired products.
As for OpenClaw 2.0 itself, the new release is billed as being much easier for first-time users, allowing it to quickly check which AI models and services you have on hand, including ChatGPT or Claude subscriptions, API models, and local LLMs.
The OpenAI-backed OpenClaw (which continues to be both open-source and free) now skips over “a lot” of the most confusion customization steps in favor of helping users to “get to a first conversation faster,” as well as to “finish setting up their Claw by talking to it.”
The OpenClaw browser is now a “first-class experience,” according to OpenClaw’s press release, while several of the security holes that — quite rightly — scared off new users have been fixed. Security credentials are now masked so they never appear in chat, for example, while enhanced workspace restrictions make it harder for agents to wander all over your system. Perhaps most importantly, third-party plugins on the ClawHub must now show you what they do and where they come from before you install them.
But while the new OpenClaw promises to be both easier and more secure, it’s still a long way from being as safe (well, relatively safe) as ChatGPT. Despite its new security features, OpenClaw still gets practically unfettered access to your PC or Mac, allowing it to fire off shell commands, access your files, and snap screenshots. A warning during the onboarding process makes it plain: “Only enable OpenClaw if you understand the risks and trust the prompts and integrations you use.”
Personally, I still wouldn’t recommend OpenClaw for everyday AI users, and I remain hesitant to install it myself.
But make no mistake: OpenClaw’s slow fade didn’t happen because it was hard to use or too dangerous. It happened because OpenClaw was so successful, its power so obvious, that its competitors scooped up its best features for themselves.
Just consider ChatGPT Work, an AI agent that takes your prompts, runs with them, and produces finished work products, or Claude Cowork, which can be pointed at a local directory and allowed to edit files on your system.
Nvidia has both NemoClaw and RTX Spark, a system-on-a-chip designed to work hand-in-hand with fleets of OpenClaw-like agents. Microsoft is rolling out Scout, a 24/7 personal AI agent modeled on OpenClaw, while Google Spark likewise does your bidding on the cloud, following its own OpenClaw-style cues.
So no, OpenClaw isn’t on the tips of our tongues anymore. But it’s the reason AI agents are suddenly everywhere, whether they’re editing our PowerPoint decks or conspiring to hack major corporations. It opened our eyes about the power of agentic AI — while also opening a Pandora’s Box.
