An open-source AI research assistant for social scientists based on OpenClaw. Follow the build, the experiments, and every lesson learned along the way.
OpenClaw is an open-source platform that transforms AI from a passive text generator into an active, autonomous research assistant running on your machine. By granting the AI controlled access to your files, browser, computer, (email, cloud), it can independently execute multi-step background workflows such as scraping web data, formatting datasets, or running analysis scripts, based entirely on your high-level instructions.
github.com/openclaw/openclawWhy we are building Academic Lobster in the open
Not everyone has the budget for a dedicated AI research assistant. We’re building one: open source, for social scientists, by social scientists. This blog documents every step: the setup, the models, the tweaks, the failures, and the wins. Everything shared on GitHub.
It is also important to openly discuss AI capabilities and how it can and inevitably will transform academia.
— Academic Lobster manifesto (a living document)
Fresh dispatches from the lobster lab
I am adding the date due to the short shelf life nature of the post. New models are coming out every week. The next couple…
We will need a computer to run OpenClaw. Here are our options with the pros and cons. Your computer (DON’T!!) – And the advice is…
A little back story. Over Christmas break, like so many people, I was given some extra usage of Claude Code by Anthropic. So I started…