The Tech Download: Meta, Google enter AI agent race as ‘agentic wars’ heat up

This report is from this week's The Tech Download newsletter. Like what you see? You can subscribe here. Earlier this year, agentic AI tool OpenClaw went viral and everyone and their grandmas were queuing up to get the digital assistant downloaded on their devices. Nvidia's Jensen Huang was effusive with praise, calling the tool the "next ChatGPT," and OpenAI snapped up OpenClaw's creator Peter Steinberger (a sign of the AI lab's own intent in the space). A few months on and the race to develop agentic tech — AI tools which can perform tasks for users — is beginning to heat up among Big Tech. In the past week, both Meta and Google have been reported to be working on AI agents. Meta is building a "highly personalised AI assistant to carry out everyday tasks" for its users, the Financial Times reported . Google is developing a "24/7 personal agent for work, school and daily life, powered by Gemini," according to Business Insider . Meta did not respond to a request for comment and Google declined to comment. Attendees bring their laptops to install the OpenClaw AI agent during a Baidu event in Beijing, China, on Tuesday, March 17, 2026. Bloomberg | Bloomberg | "The immediate catalyst is OpenClaw," Nick Patience, AI lead at the Futurum Group, told CNBC. "The open source agent demonstrated a genuine appetite for AI that acts rather than just gives answers." Competitive pressure is the visible driver, but there's a "deeper logic," he added. …