I went to ClawCon, where OpenClaw obsessives ate free lobster tails and debated about AI

ClawCon had a nice step-and-repeat at the entrance, where techies took selfies.

Henry Chandonnet/Business Insider

• I went to ClawCon in New York, a gathering for fans of Peter Steinberger's open-source AI agent OpenClaw.
• The event was packed full of AI fans looking to network and debate about LLM models.
• "People in this room probably are not developers," organizer Michael Galpert said. "Their agents are developers."

AI agents haven't yet taken over, but their fans are already swarming.

On Wednesday, hundreds of OpenClaw fans packed tightly into a West Village event space to network, fan out, and munch on lobster tails. Engineers from Big Tech companies and AI labs debated the merits of vibe coding while nursing Modelos.

Sitting in the audience for the event's live demos, I felt the AI fever.

Attendees didn't seem so enamored by OpenClaw — when one presenter asked whose lives had been changed by the agent, almost no hands raised — but people seemed excited by the branding and the ability to chat among AI fanatics.

Take a peek inside the room dotted with lobster headbands and corporate backpacks.

The ClawCon line wrapped around the block.

Henry Chandonnet/Business Insider

I arrived at Ideal Glass Studios at 6 p.m. on the dot, right when the doors opened. The line had already grown two blocks long.

Navigating to the back of the line, I spotted some tell-tale signs of techies. The man in front of me wore an Anthropic hat. The man behind me had no bag; he was just holding his laptop.

Walking down the line, a heckler chanted: "You guys are ruining society! Don't use AI."

The event was exclusive — and heavily branded.

Henry Chandonnet/Business Insider

While my ticket was scanned at the door, I watched a bouncer escort out three attendees who he said were only on the waitlist. Tickets were free, but space was limited.

Walking inside, the first thing I saw was the density of the crowd. It was packed, loud, and most didn't take off their bulky backpacks or coats, even though there was a coat check.

I also spotted branding, and lots of it. The event had a slew of sponsors with advertising tables, posters, and stickers. Many of the live demos later in the night were also performed by sponsors.

Lobsters! And charcuterie boards!

Henry Chandonnet/Business Insider

At the center of ClawCon was a towering table of lobster tail. Staff helped serve them up on small plates. Walking around, I saw multiple founders pitching products between bites of the tail, fishing it out of its shell.

It was fitting: OpenClaw's mascot is a lobster.

There were free drinks. Modelos were popular.

Henry Chandonnet/Business Insider

Every attendee got one drink ticket. Relatively few of the attendees I saw were drinking, meaning the bar was quiet. I saw a few engineers order Modelos and glasses of Prosecco.

I saw founders, influencers, and vibe coders.

Henry Chandonnet/Business Insider

The event's energy was buoyant. Walking around, people seemed truly excited to be there among like-minded AI-pilled folks.

Wearables were common. I spotted at least two attendees wearing Meta AI glasses with the flashing recording light. There were also a handful of influencers filming themselves and others.

In New York, people often lead with their work. Here was no exception: I heard countless engineers debating which tech companies were the best (and worst) to work for.

The presentations begin!

Henry Chandonnet/Business Insider

I found a seat and listened in on some conversations. One Amazon engineer told an Uber engineer that he was doubtful of OpenClaw, but came because he was open-minded and loved AI.

Host Michael Galpert got onstage to introduce the evening. He explained the meetups' short history, dating back to the first ClawCon in San Francisco a month ago. Notable attendees to that event included Marissa Mayer, Ashton Kutcher, and OpenClaw creator Peter Steinberger, he said.

I hoped that Steinberger would show up in New York, but I had no luck. (He's likely busier than ever, having recently joined OpenAI.)

"People in this room probably are not developers; their agents are developers," Galpert said.

A week after the State of the Union, we had a "State of Claw."

Henry Chandonnet/Business Insider

Galpert introduced Vincent Koc, one of OpenClaw's maintainers. The team shipped 194 features and fixes on Tuesday, Koc said.

Some folks chuckled when Koc referenced "normies" embracing OpenClaw, including Baby Keem and Andrew Tate (both of whom have posted about it on X).

This was when the room's noise began to build as well. Those who couldn't get a seat were chatting, making it hard to hear.

There were lots of demos (or ads).

Henry Chandonnet/Business Insider

Then came a series of demos. Some were truly fascinating, like a researcher who used OpenClaw to manage his colony of mice. Another presenter said he used OpenClaw for paper trading with the goal of eventually earning passive income.

A few had technical difficulties, making them less demos and more presentations of screenshots. Many also felt like ads, hawking their product and promising free tokens.

Meanwhile, the room was getting louder and louder. Galpert tried to get folks to quiet down, but said that there were no speakers for those in the back of the room, so he couldn't blame them.

People seemed more focused on talking with each other than the demos as time went on.

Henry Chandonnet/Business Insider

Reaching the end of the demos, I looked around.

Many of the seats were empty. Those in the rows ahead and behind me had stopped listening and started talking among themselves.

I'm not sure folks were leaving, per se, so much as joining the crowd. The event was for networking and meeting other AI devotees; at some point, sitting silently and watching demos lost its luster.

The last demo! And the most interesting.

Henry Chandonnet/Business Insider

The final demo was my favorite.

It was more of an explanation, as the artist Fiona Aboud told us about her parenting agent. Aboud is a mother to 19-year-old twins. Her OpenClaw is a "handholder" for parents, allowing them to ask questions, track feedings, and make charts.

With that, the demos were over. I walked around a bit, snapped a few photos, and left.

On the train home, I saw people on X comparing it to the early days of crypto. That seemed accurate, I thought: all the excitement and excess, wrapped up in one deliciously nerdy conference.

Read the original article on Business Insider

from Business Insider https://ift.tt/xCmVsiI

I'm British, but I grew up in Dubai and feel totally safe here. Most residents are going about their days like normal.

Charlie Lovett said he feels safe in Dubai despite strikes from Iran.

Charlie Lovett

• Charlie Lovett, a British citizen in Dubai, said he feels safe despite Iranian strikes.
• Lovett said Dubai has always felt safe and that residents have a lot of trust in the government.
• He's stuck in Dubai and trying to get out to run the Barcelona marathon this month.

This is an as-told-to essay based on a conversation with Charlie Lovett, a British citizen in Dubai who runs a used-car marketplace. Iran has launched retaliatory strikes at sites in the United Arab Emirates after being attacked by the US and Israel. This story has been edited for length and clarity.

I have British parents and am a British citizen, but a large chunk of my life has been spent here in Dubai.

My dad's job brought us here, so I did all my schooling here from age 3 to 18. I moved back to London for university and worked there for a few years. In the last couple years, I set up a business in the UAE, so I am back here quite a lot.

It was very surreal when everything started on Saturday.

I had some friends around, and we knew what was happening in Iran, but I didn't think much about canceling or changing plans, which is a testament to how safe I felt here. I live in a high-rise on the Palm Jumeirah and was sitting on my balcony when I could hear a few bangs in the area.

Initially, it was quite scary and very unsettling, but very quickly, I turned to government sources about what was going on. If you live here or have lived here for a long time, you understand that it is a safe place to live and that measures are in place to protect you. There's been a big difference in reactions between people who live here and people who are visiting.

Growing up in Dubai instilled a strong sense of safety

Before the other day, I had never heard a missile here.

Still, having grown up here, I have a deep-rooted, subconscious sense of safety that has built over time.

There is a lot of trust here within the community and in the government. Half the time, we don't even lock our doors. The other day, I went for a run and didn't want to carry my car keys, so I just left them in the car. You don't have to worry about these things here. It's the small things you notice growing up here, as a kid, being able to play outside for hours without a parent.

You also get an understanding of how the government operates. It's very structured and organized. You feel like you're in safe hands. For instance, during COVID, everything was handled very well.

There are protocols in place, and people here are really good at following them. If you're told not to go into the office, for example, people don't really kick up a fuss about that. They just crack on.

On all the official government channels, you can see almost a live breakdown of everything that's happening and an explanation as to what's going on — like that the sounds aren't necessarily missiles landing, they're just being intercepted. The government also sent out iPhone notifications, all translated into both English and Arabic.

Right now, for people who live here, I think the consensus is it's just business as usual. Everyone's quite calm.

It already feels normal again. There's the occasional loud sound, but that's mostly subsided in the last few days. There's a mall right next to me where I work and shop, and it's been packed. There are people out and doing things and just going about their day. I was just out for dinner with my dad.

There's a lot of conflicting information going around

If you're not from here or if you're here on holiday, I get that it would be very different. You're in an unfamiliar environment, you don't know how things work, and you don't necessarily have family or friends around.

I also think some people may be scrolling online or seeing rumors, rather than following the official channels. I think there's been a lot of mixed reporting, which can also confuse things.

I've got family and friends in the UK, and my girlfriend's there at the moment, so they're seeing what's being reported in British media and what's surfacing online. So there's this huge discrepancy in what's actually happening and what's being shared in certain places.

I got here just over two weeks ago. I'm trying to leave, not because I'm evacuating, but because I'm trying to make it to the Barcelona marathon. It's just a matter of finding a flight that'll get me there in time. Afterward, I'll return here when I can.

For people who live here — about 90% of whom are expats — the thought of this happening wasn't even in our minds until last week. But even then, it has not shifted our perspective. A lot of people feel more comfortable staying here than they would going back to their home countries.

Read the original article on Business Insider

from Business Insider https://ift.tt/tXh2vo1

The Block layoffs are just the beginning

Major US trade groups are pressing the Trump administration to distribute tariff refunds 'en masse'

Donald Trump

Mary Altaffer/AP

• Major trade groups in the US are trying to hasten tariff refunds to small businesses.
• They argue that the refunds are "existential" for small businesses and startups.
• The Supreme Court ruled in March that Trump's tariffs were illegally imposed.

US trade groups are pressing President Donald Trump and his administration to quickly pay tariff refunds to small businesses.

In a joint press release, the Consumer Technology Association and the US Chamber of Commerce said they had filed a brief on Wednesday in V.O.S. Selections, Inc. v. Trump, a lawsuit by small businesses seeking refunds from Trump's sweeping tariffs.

"The brief argues that an efficient, orderly process to deliver refunds is in the best interest of all parties — the Administration, the courts, and American businesses," the press release wrote.

"On behalf of the hundreds of thousands of businesses, especially small businesses, that are now owed refunds, the Chamber and CTA are asking the court to establish an efficient, orderly process to deliver refunds en masse," Neil Bradley, the Chamber's executive vice president,  said in the release.

He added that the trade organizations were concerned that other parties might try to benefit from the refund process, and "the last thing our system needs is for the trial bar to be profiting off refunds owed to small businesses."

"While this matters for every American company, refunds are existential for the many smaller businesses and startups who shouldered the tariff burden," Ed Brzytwa, CTA's vice president of international affairs, said in the release.

The trade groups' filing comes after the Supreme Court ruled, in a 6-3 decision in February, that Trump's tariffs were illegal and that his justification for invoking the International Emergency Economic Powers Act was invalid.

And on Wednesday, Judge Richard K. Eaton of the US Court of International Trade ruled that US businesses that were subjected to tariffs are "entitled to the benefit" of the Supreme Court ruling.

Even before Eaton's ruling, companies had started demanding refunds. Major companies like Costco, Toyota, BYD, and FedEx filed lawsuits against the administration, seeking billions of dollars in tariff duties since they were imposed last April.

Representatives for the Trump administration did not respond to a request for comment from Business Insider.

Read the original article on Business Insider

from Business Insider https://ift.tt/qhYu8NF

I ate an RFK-approved diet for a week. It sparked a food fight.

I left Iran at age 12 and never went back because it never felt safe. At 48, I can finally picture returning home.

Noshene Ranjbar left Iran at age 12; now she's envisioning a return home.

Courtesy of Noshene Ranjbar

• Noshene Ranjbar left Iran at age 12 and moved to the US to live with her father in Virginia.
• Since the death of Iran's supreme leader, she envisions going back to help the country rebuild.
• She said many diaspora Iranians like her may say goodbye to loved ones and return home.

This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Noshene Ranjbar, 48, who lives in Arizona. The following has been edited for length and clarity.

I was born in Tehran on March 24, 1977, two years before the Islamic Revolution.

At age 12 in 1989, after living through the Iran-Iraq war, I left Iran to join my dad in Richmond, Virginia.

Two or three weeks ago, I would've thought that Iran might be free by the time I was 90, and I could die there. I had this vision of me walking through the airport with a cane.

There are really no words I have to describe what has happened in Iran over the past few days. I feel a mixture of excitement, disbelief, concern, fear, and hope. People in Iran that I've spoken to since the death of Khamenei are beyond excited.

Now, at age 48, I can see myself making a trip back to Iran within the next year, and potentially living there permanently within the next five. I could spend the rest of my life there, together with millions of others, and rebuild an entire nation.

In America, I co-founded a non-profit to help people with trauma

My parents got divorced when I was young, and I grew up with my mum in Iran. I have a lot of memories of running into bomb shelters during the Iran-Iraq war, and escaping Iran for Turkey for a week or two at a time to get away from the bombs.

I knew my dad wanted to bring me to the US for a life of opportunity, but I was nervous about staying with him, since I didn't know him very well. I also didn't know much English when I got to America, so I started learning English as a second language and joined seventh grade.

Ranjbar as a child with her mother in Iran.

Courtesy of Noshene Ranjbar

I continued my education all the way to medical school, but when I was 25, I had a breakdown. I had extreme anxiety and depression, and I tried to take my own life. I didn't realize how what I'd faced as a little girl impacted my nervous system and health.

It led me on a healing journey that took me into the field of psychiatry and trauma relief, and to become an associate professor of psychiatry at the University of Arizona College of Medicine - Tucson. In 2025, I co-founded a nonprofit on the side, called EARTH, which aims to provide trauma relief to indigenous and tribal people in the US, as well as Farsi-speaking people from Iran, Afghanistan, and elsewhere. These are things I wouldn't have been able to do in Iran.

For the first time, I can see myself going back to live in Iran

Living in the US, I missed Iran. I have so many relatives and friends there. But it never felt safe to go back. As a child in Iran, I remember someone berating my mum for allowing me to wear nail polish. I knew people who'd been in prison, and I'd lived through a war.

On top of that, when I was 19, I converted from Islam to the Baháʼí faith, whose followers are heavily persecuted in Iran.

I want to offer my skills to help rebuild my home country

Nothing in the world could give me more meaning and purpose in life than giving back in the land that birthed me. It would be like honoring what my mom, grandparents, and the many people who died in the process of trying to speak up couldn't do.

Everything I've been through in my life has given me the skills that are going to be really needed to rehabilitate the broken, traumatized community that will be left when this is all over.

I don't yet know if I'd do this on the side while working as a professor in Iran, like I am in the US, or if I'd leave academia altogether. I also don't know if my American husband would come with me, and if we'd have a long-distance marriage, or what that aspect of the plan could look like.

It would be a huge step for me and other diaspora Iranians to say goodbye to their loved ones and go back to Iran. But so many people have died hoping for this moment, we're not going to say, "Sorry, I'm not going to make it to the biggest party of our lifetime." Of course, we're going to go.

Do you have a story to share about going back to Iran? Contact this reporter at ccheong@businessinsider.com

Read the original article on Business Insider

from Business Insider https://ift.tt/SB8lrqO

CEO of space defense startup says US needs to catch up to China and Russia in orbit

True Anomaly CEO Even Rogers says the US needs to catch up with its adversaries, China and Russia, in achieving "space superiority."

True Anomaly

• True Anomaly is a space defense startup that builds spacecraft and software for reconnaissance.
• CEO Even Rogers says space is a contested environment and US adversaries include China and Russia.
• Rogers said the US is "really behind" in responding to what Russia and China have in orbit.

Long gone are the days of the post-Cold War lull when space was largely treated as a peaceful utility domain.

As US officials warn of China's and Russia's rapid progress in space, and tech CEOs dream of AI data centers in lower orbit, space is becoming an increasingly contested layer of global infrastructure with national security implications.

Even Rogers, a former US Space Command officer and the CEO of True Anomaly, a space defense startup, says America needs to catch up.

"We're already really far behind," Rogers told Business Insider, comparing the US to Russia and China. "The United States has a very clear mandate in national military strategy and national defense strategy to achieve space superiority."

China and Russia have long been considered America's adversaries in space — and their capabilities in that domain are only increasing.

Brig. Gen. Brian Sidari, deputy chief of space operations for intelligence at the US Space Force, said in September that China's pace of progress in space was "concerning" as the country reaches record levels of launches. A 2024 US intelligence report also said China and Russia are actively exploring ways to incapacitate satellites.

Foreign space systems can range from spy satellites gathering intelligence on the positions of US forces to anti-satellite weaponry that could destroy another object.

Rogers described a constant cycle of maneuvering between the US and its adversaries and warned that Washington lacks a rapid-response capability to quickly gather high-quality reconnaissance on newly deployed spacecraft.

The CEO said Russia has consistently deployed what the US suspects are "weapons and test systems into lower orbit" over the past decade.

"We haven't had a responsive capability to be able to, within 24 to 48 hours, go take a picture of that object," Rogers said, adding, "every single day there's a cat and mouse game that's being played."

Part of the challenge for the US is to know precisely what's happening in orbit. Although the government already has the ability to track objects in space, Rogers said the hard part is getting high-quality information.

The CEO said the Space Force needs to do reconnaissance against other spacecraft that are highly agile and maneuverable without detection.

At True Anomaly, a team of more than 250 people is building a spacecraft that can maneuver close to other objects and collect high-quality data from them.

One of the company's core products is the Jackal, a space drone built for the kind of reconnaissance mission the US Space Force would want to conduct.

"What we're doing is collecting the detailed intelligence information of a spacecraft," Rogers said.

The hype around data centers in space could add another layer of vulnerability. Tech CEOs are exploring a still-far-fetched idea of putting critical AI infrastructure into lower orbit, which would make space not just a military or government concern but also a commercial asset to protect.

Rogers said that it's hard to know what space defense of data centers would look like, but that the idea adds another need for space security.

"You could see data centers in general being part of critical infrastructure for a country's political power," he said. "So yeah, it's going to be critical infrastructure, and they'll need to be protected."

Read the original article on Business Insider

from Business Insider https://ift.tt/vLAFnsV