Anthropic halts Claude subscriptions support for OpenClaw due to system strain

Anthropic is ending its support for the favored AI agent platform OpenClaw within Claude subscriptions due to increasing requests for its chatbot.

Boris Cherny, head of Claude Code, indicated in an X post this past Friday evening that starting at 12pm PT on Saturday, Claude subscriptions will cease to accommodate third-party tools like OpenClaw.

Instead, users will have to either acquire discounted "additional usage bundles" with their Claude login or utilise a separate Claude API key through Anthropic's developer platform, according to Cherny.

The executive from Anthropic explained that this change was motivated by the computational demand they are experiencing from users.

Claude had recently gained substantial traction, momentarily leading the US Apple App Store in March.

Anthropic had to amend Claude usage restrictions just last week due to the heightened demand.

“Our team has been striving to accommodate Claude's growing demand, and our subscription model wasn't designed to handle the usage pattern of these third-party applications. We manage capacity thoughtfully, prioritizing those using our products and API,” Cherny stated in the X post.

An Anthropic spokesperson relayed to Business Insider that using Claude subscriptions in conjunction with third-party tools goes against the company's terms, and these tools place a "disproportionate load on our infrastructure."

Peter Steinberger, responsible for creating OpenClaw, mentioned on X that he and Dave Morin, a board member of the OpenClaw foundation, attempted to "reason with Anthropic" and consequently delayed this decision by a week.

“We informed Anthropic that a number of users had subscribed primarily because of OpenClaw, and it would be detrimental if they discontinued access,” Steinberger texted to Business Insider. "Now they attempt to bury the announcement late on a Friday evening."

OpenClaw is an emerging AI agent platform that links to systems like Claude, allowing users to deploy personalised AI assistants.

These assistants perform a variety of tasks across different applications and processes.