OpenClaw in Manhattan: Celebrating Open-Source AI

At the entrance of a multi-story event venue in Manhattan, a woman wearing a lobster-shaped hat welcomed attendees of ClawCon. She handed out bracelets to visitors, opening the doors to a colorful and festive universe. Behind her, pink and purple lights illuminated a space filled with lobster claw headbands, multicolored badges, sponsor information booths, and a demonstration stage under a well of light. This event celebrated OpenClaw, an AI assistant platform created by Peter Steinberger in November 2025.

OpenClaw, which succeeded the names Clawdbot and Moltbolt, quickly distinguished itself in the tech sector as an open-source tool, contrasting with the AI agent services of giants like Google and OpenAI. Although the tool is still unpredictable and poses security risks, its community views it as a noble quest, offering an alternative to an industry dominated by a few large companies.

Michael Galpert, one of the event hosts, told The Verge: "AI was controlled by the big labs. This is a pivotal moment where Peter has opened the doors a bit." Over 1,300 people had registered for the Wednesday night event at Ideal Glass Studios, although the actual number of attendees was limited to around 700. The event, presented as a free "social-first" gathering, was part of a global tour, following a similar meeting in San Francisco and preceding others in Miami, Austin, Tel Aviv, Tokyo, Madrid, and more.

The event's budget seemed modest, but the organizers did not skimp on a wedding-worthy buffet, featuring lobster claws, lemons, Tabasco sauce, charcuterie platters, bunches of grapes, and floral arrangements. Galpert, a member of the AI community with a background at Epic Games on Fortnite, explained that the idea for this event was born on Discord, an appropriate choice given that one of the reasons for OpenClaw's initial popularity was the ability to chat with its agent via messaging services like WhatsApp, Telegram, or Discord.

Participants mingled near a photo booth, a bar, and silver balloons reading "CLAWCON NYC" sparkling under recessed lighting. Some wore lobster-shaped necklaces or lobster headbands. Among the accessories, one could also spot a plush jellyfish hat, a plush horse hat, and a pair of angel wings. A dance floor was ready to welcome attendees, although the DJ had not yet started playing.

"All your friends and family probably think you're crazy, and the goal is for you to be in a room with other crazy people so that it feels normal," Galpert said on stage to kick off the festivities. "Yes, you're wearing a lobster headband, you're here on a Wednesday night talking about agents and bots and the future of personal AI. This is normal for us now; it's a bit abnormal for the rest of the world. So, it will be up to us to help guide this new era that has already begun."

Beyond the common use of OpenClaw, the interests of the participants were varied. Dan Kazenoff, for example, was working on a natural language engine for "decentralized finance." He was struggling to experiment with OpenClaw in isolated environments and typically used Claude Code, an expensive tool. He hoped to meet others experimenting with open-source agent tools. Alex Wu, another participant, had been using OpenClaw for about two months to extract e-commerce data from Chinese and Japanese markets to derive cultural trends. He admitted that the food was one of the reasons for his attendance. Rick Galbo, working in AI R&D, initially thought ClawCon was a hackathon before realizing it was a community gathering.

Stage demonstrations began after a period of casual discussions. Most presentations were sponsors showcasing OpenClaw "wrappers," or one-click integration tools to facilitate access to the platform for users. The event's main sponsor, Kilo Code, stated that 7,000 people had signed up for its KiloClaw tool within two days of its launch. The company offered one month of free computing, normally priced at $49, to anyone who signed up and tagged a frame on X. Constant calls for silence were made during the demonstrations.