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.
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."
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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