Update: Oregon Gov. Tina Kotek has signed SB 1546 into law. As of Jan. 1, 2027, chatbot operators must implement strong measures to protect Oregon kids who interact with the products.

Using an AI agent comes with two known risks: The agent has access to all your data and passwords, and it will decide and act on its own. Sometimes that means it decides to delete all your emails, or go off on its own crypto-mining adventure.

In just three months, OpenClaw has sparked a surge of interest in AI agents and a boom in the creation of autonomous bots. We explain what it is, where it came from, and how to consider the upside along with the risks.