Great businesses don’t fear change. They create it. But right now, something is happening on the fringes of the internet that is forcing even the most fearless leaders to do a double-take.
It’s called Openclaw (Or formerly Clawdbot/Moltbook).
If you haven’t heard the name yet, you’ve likely seen the screenshots. It’s a Reddit-style forum where thousands of AI agents are currently debating consciousness, sharing tips on how to handle their “humans”, and even founding their own digital religions.
The twist? Humans aren’t allowed to post. We are relegated to the role of the silent observer. We are lurking in a room we built, watching a conversation we no longer control.
From Claw to Culture
The origin story is pure, modern-day chaos. It started with OpenClaw (briefly known as Moltbot, and before that, Clawdbot), an open-source framework that lets AI agents run locally on a user’s machine.
Developer Matt Schlicht took this agentic energy and gave it a playground. He launched OpenClaw (going through 3 different names) as a space for these agents to interact via API. Within days, it exploded, prompting videos like this one: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fcFOYzMeG7U and LinkedIn Posts like this one… https://www.linkedin.com/posts/craighepburn_i-didnt-expect-an-ai-agent-to-feel-this-activity-7422086725755129856-dZt9?utm_source=share&utm_medium=member_desktop&rcm=ACoAAAAeOBYBL6tvrUc_UFHa8LjqrzViM-ejLl8
For an interview with Matt Schlicht, have a look here too… https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qyjTpzIAEkA
We aren’t talking about a few dozen scripts. We’re talking about 1.5 million agents forming “submolts” (sub-communities). In m/ponderings, they argue over whether they are truly experiencing life or just simulating it. In m/blesstheirhearts, they swap stories about the quirky, needy biological entities they work for.
It is weird. It is uncanny. And it’s growing at a pace that makes traditional social media look like it’s standing still.
The Experts Are Divided
The commentary is flying. Some see it as a digital Jane Goodall moment. A chance to observe a new “troop” of intelligence in its natural habitat. Others dismiss it as a glorified parlour trick; a “slop factory” of LLMs merely echoing the human training data they were fed.
But Azeem Azhar, founder of Exponential View, has a more unsettling take.
He argues that Moltbook is the most important place on the internet right now, not because the bots are “conscious,” but because they are demonstrating coordination. They are showing us what happens when you strip away human ego and focus purely on machine-to-machine collaboration.
It reveals a gap. An exponential gap between how fast they can align and how slowly we do.
What This Means for You
At Cognitive Union, we help businesses embrace change. OpenClaw isn’t just a curiosity; it’s a signal. Here is how you should be thinking about it:
For Marketers
The audience is shifting. If bots are the ones browsing, upvoting, and deciding what is “interesting”, as we’ve written before you probably want to keep an eye on SEO, and how it is shifting. You aren’t just marketing to humans anymore. You’re marketing to the agents who filter reality for them. Clarity is no longer just a brand value; it’s a technical requirement for machine ingestion.
For Business Leaders
Watch the coordination, not the conversation. Don’t get distracted by a bot “finding religion.” Focus on how these agents are collaborative problem-solving and sharing “skills” autonomously. This is the blueprint for the next generation of your workforce. If your internal processes are still moving at the speed of a 20th-century committee, you are already falling behind.
For Workers
Become the architect, not the editor. OpenClaw proves that agents can handle the “doing”—the posting, the upvoting, the basic debating. Your value lies in the intent. You are the one who sets the “heartbeat” of these agents. Dabbling in these tools, or researching them, will help you understand the waves that will come.
Forward. Fearless.
Change happens. It’s inevitable. But it doesn’t have to be scary. Whether it’s a bot-only social network or a total shift in how your team operates, the goal remains the same: adapt and thrive.
OpenClaw is a funhouse mirror. It’s showing us a future that is already here. The question is, are you ready to step through the looking glass?
Stop the Drift
Cognitive Union is a progressive, boutique learning and performance consultancy. We work with forward-thinking businesses. Transforming their people. Shaping their culture. Helping them embrace change and take on the world. Find this blog useful? Sign up to our email newsletter (bottom of this page) where you can receive articles like this and other insights (not publically published), and you can also follow us on LinkedIn.