AI Summit Takes Flight in Shanghai With 'Lobster Wave'

The 2026 Global Developer Pioneers Summit (GDPS) kicked off today in Shanghai, transforming the city-level artificial intelligence conference into a sea of bright red lobster logos.

The crustacean has become the unofficial mascot of OpenClaw, the world's buzziest open-source AI agent framework currently taking China by storm.

The "lobster wave" was palpable across the exhibition floor. Companies offered one-stop installation services for various Claw-based tools, complete with free trial tokens. The buzz attracted a diverse crowd, from programmers and corporate professionals to social media influencers, all eager to witness a moment reminiscent of Chinese AI chatbot DeepSeek's market-shaking debut last year.

Shanghai-based StepFun took center stage, showcasing StepClaw, a versatile tool designed for both desktop and mobile platforms. To fuel the frenzy, the company offered a massive pool of 100 million "Lobster Tokens" to participants who installed the app on-site.

StepClaw's ascent isn't just marketing hype; it currently sits atop OpenClaw's monthly global rankings for application calls. Driven by robust reasoning, rapid-fire response times, and industry-leading affordability, the tool is a testament to the surging competitiveness of Chinese open-source models.

During the week ending March 8, usage of Chinese-developed models spiked by 35 percent, reaching a staggering 4.2 trillion tokens – officially overtaking their US counterparts in total volume. On the OpenClaw leaderboard, Chinese firms, including StepFun, Kimi and MiniMax, recently achieved a clean sweep of the top three spots.

According to Zhong Junhao, secretary-general of the Shanghai AI Industry Association, high quality and cost-efficiency are the primary engines driving the city's AI services.

"In Shanghai, a developer using OpenClaw might spend 6,000 yuan (US$857) for a specific volume of AI tokens. To get that same volume from overseas models, they would need to spend 60,000 yuan," Zhong noted, highlighting a price advantage that is turning AI into "real production capacity."

While OpenClaw dominated the exhibition site, the GDPS – which is runnng through Sunday – is also spotlighting breakthroughs in humanoid robotics and brain-computer interfaces (BCI), cementing Shanghai's status as a global AI hub.