Vertical Integration Wars: How AI Model Vendors Lock Out Independent Tools

The OpenClaw incident exposes an emerging power struggle in AI: model vendors are building closed ecosystems and using pricing policies to lock developers in, while independent frameworks fight for interoperability. As Anthropic, OpenAI, and Google control both the models and preferred tools, external platforms face higher costs and access restrictions. For developers, this shift means losing freedom of choice in an increasingly monopolized AI tooling market.