Charlie StrossFeb 21

NOTICE TO ALL #OPENCLAW USERS:

If your openclaw instance emails me from your account for ANY reason, I *will* report you to Gmail for phishing and then block the fuck out of you. You are dead to me. If I knew where you lived I would visit, set your house on fire, then piss on you when you ran out screaming. Your shitty agentic AI is not welcome in my inbox. Fuck right off, and when you get there, keep on fucking off some more.

(I do not need this shit before my morning caffeine.)

Show threadQuinn Norton
@cstross I'm terrified to ask but I've been very busy recently... *deep breath* wtf is open claw?
Feb 21 at 10:17amWeb
Show threadleyrerFeb 21
@quinn @cstross Don"t! It's a trap!
Show threadCharlie StrossFeb 21

@quinn An autonomous agentic AI you're supposed to install on your computer that will have access to all your accounts and randomly spam famous people with bullshit requests, like an over-enthusiastic teenage fan only far more irritating because under the facade they're a p-zombie.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OpenClaw

OpenClaw - Wikipedia

Show threadQuinn NortonFeb 21
@cstross oh right that thing, I was a renaming behind. This whole thing is so confusing. It's like someone proudly announcing they've put two angry badgers in their house. Like, how do you think this will end?
Show threadDomFeb 21
@quinn @cstross (this is me just being curious:) How can one tell messages written by that agentic AI apart from one written by a *real* enthusiastic fan boy? I suspect it to be all over the place content-wise?
Show threadDeborah Preuss, pcc 🇨🇦Feb 21
@dom @quinn @cstross yes, I can here to ask the same question. How can you tell it's from OpenClaw?
Show threadMighty OrbotFeb 21
@dom That’s easy: a human enthusiastic fanboy never has perfect spelling and grammar. Especially punctuation.
Show threadwoe2youFeb 21
@quinn @cstross Badly, I suspect. It usually does.
Show threadRay McCarthyFeb 21

@quinn @cstross
"The agent is also susceptible to prompt injection attacks, in which harmful instructions are embedded in the data with the intent of getting the LLM to interpret them as legitimate user instructions."

So maybe a cleverly crafted reply would at least erase all the sender's files?

Show threadOldCoderFeb 21
The question of who is prosecuted if the agent commits a crime using your identity, credentials, and personal data is one that should be of interest.
Show threadRay McCarthyFeb 21
@oldcoder @quinn @cstross
Whoever installed it.
Show threadNemoFeb 21
@cstross
There aren't words adequate to express the distress/disgust/WTF I'm feeling upon learning this exists.
@quinn
Show threadslotosFeb 21

@cstross @quinn That damn page…

> One of OpenClaw's own maintainers, known as Shadow, warned on Discord that "if you can't understand how to run a command line, this is far too dangerous of a project for you to use safely."

Not understanding things is the only way one ends up using this pile of shit.

Show threadjonolethFeb 21
@quinn @cstross LLM + prompt cron job + root
Show threadQuinn NortonFeb 21
@jonoleth @cstross
Show threadDusk to Don Feb 21

@quinn @cstross

It's software that a person can use to give LLM agents very broad permissions to operate whatever computer it's installed on. Including a user's email, if they so choose.

The intent is "a virtual assistant that can do more things for you"

Obviously it's security risks atop security risks

https://youtu.be/11sxky4vTcs

Please don't install Clawdbot

YouTube
Show threadSister Lucy FurFeb 21
@dusk @quinn @cstross I believe Clawdbot is a sequel to the excellent documentary, "The Cat's Revenge" by Claude Balls.
Show threadLuke KaniesFeb 21
@quinn @cstross omfg. You are in for a journey
Show threadQuinn NortonFeb 22
@lkanies I don't want to go, say I don't have to go 😂
Show threadLuke KaniesFeb 22

@quinn honestly I’m finding it fun to *watch*.

I have not yet tried any of them. I expect to try something like Nanoclaw at some point for stuff like providing easy info on the huge collection of info I have on my house (e.g., network port mapping, or specific appliance names).

But I am lazy, and can wait for it to settle out a bit.

Zero chance I am touching the vibe coded fuckery that is openclaw.

But it’s worth noting it now has about as many GitHub stars as python. So, a whole lot of crazy people are insanely excited about it.

Show threadQuinn NortonFeb 22
@lkanies yikes, man.