Hong Kong’s finance chief has likened the powerful AI agent OpenClaw to an efficient “digital employee”, saying it should not be dismissed but rather improved to address security risk concerns.
Financial Secretary Paul Chan Mo-po’s remarks on Monday followed a recent Digital Policy Office advisory urging government departments to avoid installing OpenClaw or its variants due to security concerns.
“AI agent OpenClaw has awed the world; the convenience it offers is just like having a digital employee,” Chan said at a lunch with professionals.
“It is difficult to say whether there will be an impact [brought by OpenClaw] on the labour market. However, repetitive work may no longer be necessary in the future.”
Rather than saying “no” to the AI agent, OpenClaw’s security risks should be addressed with improvements, Chan added.
Developed by Austrian software engineer Peter Steinberger, OpenClaw is an open-source artificial intelligence (AI) agent framework that performs real-world tasks for users, much like a supercharged digital assistant.
