There is fresh drama brewing in the land of AI. And this time around the question: can a tech company unilaterally cut off users from accessing its AI tools? This is because Google has apparently banned some Gemini Pro users who were using OpenClaw, a desktop-based AI tool, to access Google Antigravity.
The Antigravity is an AI tool powered by Gemini and which lets users write software even if they do not have a background in coding. Google has claimed that OpenClaw users were misusing Antigravity.
While the issue is limited to a rather small group of users — those who were using OpenClaw to access Antigravity — it raises a larger question: At a time when AI is increasingly turning into an essential tool, can tech companies like Google, OpenAI and Anthropic unilaterally ban users?
This is probably the reason why as soon as Google’s ban on OpenClaw users took effect, OpenClaw creator Peter Steinberger called out Google on social media. He termed the Google move draconian.
In a post on X, Peter warned developers to be cautious when using Google’s Antigravity backend and suggested he may remove support to avoid further disruption. “Pretty draconian from Google. Be careful out there if you use Antigravity. I guess I’ll remove support (from OpenClaw),” he wrote. He noted that even Anthropic users have faced issues, but said the company communicates better. “Even Anthropic pings me and is nice about issues. Google just bans?” he added.
OpenClaw is an open-source coding agent framework that allows developers to connect AI models, including Google’s Gemini and Anthropic’s Claude. It has become very popular among tech-savvy and developer crowd. However, the service is also beginning to see pushback from AI companies. Earlier, Anthropic wasn’t very happy with the way OpenClaw users were accessing its Claude AI. Now, Google is similarly frowning.
At the same time, it is important to note that OpenClaw is now part of OpenAI, a competitor to Google and Anthropic. This could also be a reason why AI companies are trying to distance themselves from OpenClaw and its users.
Google, obviously, has a different take on the whole story. Responding a few hours after Peter went public with his grievance, Google noted that restrictions on OpenClaw users were due to misuse of Antigravity backend.
In a post on X, Google Antigravity lead Varun Mohan said: “We’ve been seeing a massive increase in malicious usage of the Antigravity backend that has tremendously degraded the quality of service for our users. We needed to find a path to quickly shut off access to these users that are not using the product as intended.”
