Google triggered controversy amongst some builders this weekend and at this time, Monday, February twenty third, after limiting their utilization of its new Antigravity "vibe coding" platform, alleging "maliciously utilization."
Some customers who had been utilizing the open supply autonomous AI agent OpenClaw together with brokers constructed on Antigravity, in addition to those that had linked OpenClaw brokers to their Gmails, claimed on social media that they misplaced entry to their Google accounts.
In keeping with Google, mentioned customers had been utilizing Antigravity to entry a bigger variety of Gemini tokens through third-party platforms like OpenClaw, which overwhelmed the system for different Antigravity clients.
This transfer has minimize off a number of customers, underscoring the architectural and belief points that may come up with OpenClaw. The timing of Google’s crackdown is especially pointed. Only one week in the past, on February 15, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman introduced that OpenClaw creator Peter Steinberger had joined OpenAI to guide its “subsequent era of non-public brokers.” Whereas OpenClaw stays an open-source undertaking below an impartial basis, it’s now financially backed and strategically guided by Google’s major rival.
By slicing off OpenClaw’s entry to Antigravity, Google isn’t simply defending its server load; it’s successfully severing a pipeline that enables an OpenAI-adjacent instrument to leverage Google’s most superior Gemini fashions.
Google DeepMind engineer and former CEO and founding father of Windsurf, Varun Mohan, mentioned in an X publish that the corporate seen “malicious utilization” that led to service degradation.
“We’ve been seeing a large enhance in malicious utilization of the Antigravity backend that has tremendously degraded the standard of service for our customers. We wanted to discover a path to shortly shut off entry to those customers that aren’t utilizing the product as meant. We perceive {that a} subset of those customers weren’t conscious that this was towards our ToS [Terms of Service] and can get a path for them to return again on however we’ve got restricted capability and wish to be honest to our precise customers,” the publish mentioned.
A Google DeepMind spokesperson informed VentureBeat that the transfer is to not completely ban the usage of Antigravity to entry third-party platforms, however to align its use with the platform’s phrases of service.
Unsurprisingly, Google’s transfer has triggered a furor amongst OpenClaw customers, together with from OpenClaw creator Peter Steinberger, who introduced that OpenClaw will take away Google help in consequence.
Infrastructure and connection uncertainty
OpenClaw emerged as a means for particular person customers to run shell instructions and entry native recordsdata, fulfilling a serious promise of AI brokers: effectively operating workflows for customers.
However, as VentureBeat has steadily identified, it might typically run into safety and guardrail points. There are firms constructing methods for enterprise clients to entry OpenClaw securely and with a governance layer, although OpenClaw is so new that we should always anticipate extra bulletins quickly.
Nonetheless, Google’s transfer was not framed as a safety subject however fairly as certainly one of entry and runtime, additional exhibiting that there’s nonetheless vital uncertainty when customers wish to herald one thing like OpenClaw into their workflow.
This isn’t the primary time builders and energy customers of agentic AI discovered their entry curtailed. Final yr, Anthropic throttled entry to Claude Code after the corporate claimed some customers have been abusing the system by operating it 24/7.
What this does spotlight is the disconnect between firms like Google and OpenClaw customers. OpenClaw provided many fascinating prospects for creating workflows with brokers. Nonetheless, as a result of it’s frequently evolving, customers could inadvertently run afoul of ToS or charge limits.
Mohan mentioned Google is working to deliver the banned customers again, however whether or not this implies the corporate will amend its ToS or work out a safe connection between OpenClaw brokers and Antigravity fashions stays to be seen.
For builders, the message is obvious: the period of "deliver your personal agent" to a frontier mannequin is ending. Suppliers at the moment are prioritizing vertically built-in experiences the place they’ll seize 100% of the telemetry and subscription income, typically on the expense of the open-source interoperability that outlined the early days of the LLM growth.
Affected customers
A number of customers mentioned on each the Y Combinator chat boards and X that they not had entry to their Google accounts after operating OpenClaw cases for sure Google merchandise.
Google’s transfer mirrors a broader trade shift towards "walled backyard" agent ecosystems. Earlier this yr, Anthropic launched "consumer fingerprinting" to make sure that its Claude Code setting stays the unique interface for its fashions, successfully locking out third-party wrappers like OpenClaw. For builders, the message is obvious: the period of "deliver your personal agent" to a frontier mannequin is ending. Suppliers at the moment are prioritizing vertically built-in experiences the place they’ll seize 100% of the telemetry and subscription income, typically on the expense of the open-source interoperability that outlined the early days of the LLM growth.
Some have mentioned they are going to not use Google or Gemini for his or her initiatives. Proper now, individuals who nonetheless wish to maintain utilizing Antigravity might want to wait till Google figures out a means for them to make use of OpenClaw and entry Gemini tokens in a fashion Google deems “honest.”
Google DeepMind reiterated that it had solely minimize entry to Antigravity, to not different Google purposes.
Conclusion: the enterprise takeaway
For enterprise technical decision-makers, the "Antigravity Ban" serves as a definitive case examine within the dangers of agentic dependency. Because the trade strikes from chatbots to autonomous brokers, the next realities should now dictate technique:
Platform fragility is the brand new regular: The sudden lockout of $250/month "Extremely" customers proves that even high-paying enterprise clients have little leverage when a supplier decides to alter its "honest use" definitions. Counting on OAuth-based third-party wrappers for core enterprise logic is now a high-risk gamble.
The rise of local-first governance: With OpenClaw shifting towards an OpenAI-backed basis and Google/Anthropic tightening their clouds, enterprises ought to prioritize agent frameworks that may run "local-first" or inside VPCs. The "token loophole" that OpenClaw exploited is being closed; future agentic scale would require direct, high-cost API contracts fairly than backed shopper seats.
Account portability as a requirement: The truth that customers "misplaced entry to their Google accounts" underscores the hazard of bundling growth environments with major identification suppliers. Choice-makers ought to decouple AI growth from core company identification (SSO) the place doable to keep away from a single ToS violation paralyzing a whole workforce's communications.
Finally, the Antigravity incident marks the tip of the "Wild West" for AI brokers. As Google and OpenAI stake their claims, the enterprise should select between the steadiness of the walled backyard or the complexity (and price) of really impartial, self-hosted infrastructure.
