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Applied AI·April 21, 2026·1 min read

How OpenClaw turned into China's next big thing

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China’s 'AI agent economy' around OpenClaw—install queues, side hustles, stock bets—shows agents are already a consumer and SME income stream, not just a productivity toy. Western operators should assume their users will soon expect income-generating agents as a default feature, and that your product is competing with side-hustle tooling for attention and wallet.

Applied AI

Q&A with Canva CEO Melanie Perkins on the company's growth in enterprise, competing with AI labs, token pricing, investing in its own models, and more (Nilay Patel/The Verge)

Canva treating token pricing and its own models as core strategy says the 'AI feature' phase is over — design platforms are now de facto model platforms with UX on top. If you're an application layer company, you either own your economics on tokens or you become a thin skin over someone else’s margin structure.