"AI Employee? I Want One Too"... The App That Drew 1,000 in Line in China

Tencent Hosts Free Openclo Installation Event
Crowd of 1,000 Gathers in Front of Headquarters

The popularity of AI agents, known in China as "working artificial intelligence (AI)," is rapidly spreading. While the installation and configuration process is complicated, these agents are attracting user interest by performing real work on behalf of users.

On March 8 (local time), the South China Morning Post (SCMP) reported, "About 1,000 people lined up in front of the Tencent headquarters in Shenzhen, China, to have the open-source AI agent 'Openclo' installed." The event brought together a diverse group of people, including amateur developers, homemakers, and students.

Openclo Homepage

Openclo was developed by Austrian engineer Peter Steinberger. While chatbot models such as OpenAI's ChatGPT or Google's Gemini are mainly designed to converse with users, Openclo is distinguished by its ability to actually perform tasks on the user's computer system.

The event was hosted by Chinese big tech company Tencent. As installing and configuring Openclo can be somewhat complicated, company engineers provided free assistance with the software installation.

From Investment to Creating Presentations

SCMP noted, "This Tencent event demonstrates how interest in Openclo is expanding beyond the developer community to reach general users and hobbyist developers."

A user who worked as a designer in Shanghai said, "Using the Openclo AI assistant feels like having a virtual employee," adding, "It handles work tasks for me and reduces my workload."

Among Chinese users, using Openclo is referred to as "raise the lobster," and it is being utilized for a variety of tasks, including selecting stock items, writing reports, preparing presentation materials (PPT), composing emails, and coding.

Concerns Over Personal Data Leakage... But Chinese Government Focuses on AI Agent Technology

However, using Openclo requires a high level of access to the user's computer system. As a result, concerns have been raised about potential risks of personal information leakage.

It has also been reported that the installation and configuration process is not easy for ordinary users. Accordingly, a series of online tutorials and offline gatherings have been held in various cities such as Beijing, Shenzhen, and Hangzhou to share tips on how to use Openclo.

Meanwhile, the Chinese government is reportedly focusing on AI agent technology. On March 6, Premier Li Qiang of the State Council of China announced at the opening ceremony of the National People's Congress that the government will accelerate the deployment of smart devices equipped with AI features and AI agents, and promote the large-scale commercialization of AI in major industrial sectors.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.