February 7, 2026
Your coworker is a cloud gremlin
Show HN: One-click AI employee with its own cloud desktop
Is this your 24/7 intern or a pricey prank? Devs split
TLDR: A startup launched a “one‑click AI employee” that runs a cloud desktop and uses your apps. The crowd is intrigued but divided: big questions about liability and efficiency, loud pushback on $70/month pricing, and plenty of memes about Freddy Krueger code reviews and meme‑first design.
The internet just met the “one-click AI employee” — a full cloud desktop that sees your screen, clicks your apps, and claims it can do anything a person can, faster and all day. The pitch: not a chatbot but a computer with an AI brain, and you bring your own Anthropic key so they don’t mark up usage. Same features for everyone; you only pay more for beefier machines.
Cue the drama. One commenter demanded to know the competition and asked point‑blank about liability if a non‑technical user lets it “run a business” without checking the work — imagine an AI filing taxes while you’re asleep. Another called it the developer’s Nightmare on Elm Street, picturing inboxes haunted by thousands of robot code reviews. A pragmatist chimed in: using a desktop as the interface is “the least efficient” way for an AI to operate — fun idea, questionable execution. And then the wallets spoke: a blunt “I’m not paying $70/mo to try this,” with calls for a $5 tier or a one‑time local setup using cheaper models. One skeptic said it looks “optimized for meme value.”
Bottom line: a bold concept that split the crowd between curious testers, liability worriers, efficiency purists, and meme-lords. Bring popcorn.
Key Points
- •One-click launch of a full cloud Ubuntu desktop with a pre-installed AI agent.
- •The AI agent operates the screen and applications to perform tasks like browsing, coding, emailing, and filing.
- •Environment includes Chrome, VS Code, LibreOffice, and 100+ AI skills (e.g., browser automation, file processing, shell commands).
- •Works with any app (desktop, web, internal) without needing API integrations.
- •Pricing is uniform in features across plans; only hardware specs differ, and users provide their own Anthropic API key with no AI cost markup.