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Cease me when you’ve heard this one earlier than: Somewhat-known Chinese language startup is making waves globally for a formidable new AI product.
No, we’re not speaking about DeepSeek R1, the AI reasoning mannequin that made waves amongst Western AI circles earlier this 12 months. As an alternative, the recent new product du jour is named Manus, and it’s a brand new AI multipurpose agent — that’s, greater than an AI mannequin, it’s an interface for controlling a number of fashions that may go off and, by itself, autonomously, full difficult duties like producing stories or working dozens of social media accounts on the person’s behalf.
If it sounds much like the Deep Analysis modes provided by OpenAI, Google, and others, in addition to OpenAI’s Operator agent and Anthropic’s Pc Use mode (the latter two of which might, like Manus, take management of a person’s pc or packages on it, shifting the cursors and typing to carry out actions inside software program), then congrats — you’ve understood what it goals to supply.
However for action-oriented leaders and determination makers inside enterprises right here within the West and overseas — equivalent to chief know-how officers, product managers, IT workforce leaders, and extra — what do they should learn about Manus and the capabilities it presents? Learn on to search out out.
What’s Manus and who’s behind it?
Manus AI was formally introduced on March 5, 2025 on the social community X with a submit from the corporate describing it as “the primary common AI agent” that autonomously executes complicated duties moderately than simply producing concepts.
In keeping with a South China Morning Submit (SCMP) report, Manus was developed by a Chinese language firm known as Butterfly Impact, which has places of work in Beijing and Wuhan. The corporate reportedly has just a few dozen staff however has quickly gained consideration in China’s AI panorama.
The founding workforce contains entrepreneurs and skilled product managers, led by Xiao Hong, a 33-year-old serial entrepreneur and 2015 graduate of Wuhan’s Huazhong College of Science and Expertise.
Xiao beforehand constructed WeChat-based purposes that have been acquired by bigger corporations and later launched Monica.ai, an AI assistant accessible as a browser extension and cellular app.
On its web site, Manus is alleged to be named for the Latin phrase for “hand,” a nod to the truth that customers can depend on it to carry out actions for them, or, in my phrases, to “lend them a hand.”
How does Manus AI work?
Manus AI is designed as a multi-agent system, that means it combines a number of AI fashions to deal with duties independently.
In contrast to AI chatbots that help customers by offering info, Manus can analysis, analyze information, generate stories, automate workflows, and even write and deploy code.
In keeping with X posts by Ji Yichao, co-founder and chief scientist of Manus AI, the system is constructed on Anthropic’s Claude 3.5 Sonnet — a nine-month-old AI mannequin at this level — and fine-tuned variations of Alibaba’s Qwen fashions.
The workforce is presently testing upgrading Manus to Anthropic’s latest and most performant mannequin, Claude 3.7, which is predicted to additional improve its reasoning and execution capabilities.
Manus AI operates asynchronously, that means customers can assign duties and stroll away whereas it completes them autonomously. It’s presently in non-public beta, with entry granted by way of invitation codes.
How does Manus AI stack up in opposition to the U.S.-based competitors?
One of many greatest causes Manus AI has gained traction is its sturdy benchmark efficiency, beating U.S. agency OpenAI’s personal o3-powered Deep Analysis agent and the “earlier state-of-the-art” in line with a graph posted on the official Manus web site.
This declare, together with real-world checks, has led some AI energy customers and early adopters to the conclusion that Manus could also be one of the succesful autonomous AI brokers accessible immediately.
Past benchmarks, Manus has already confirmed itself on freelance platforms like Upwork and Fiverr and in Kaggle machine studying challenges, efficiently executing complicated real-world duties.
AI influencers rejoice Manus’s arrival and spectacular efficiency
Dialog about Manus in media and AI circles took off late final week when customers on the social community X famous that some folks have been utilizing it to automate the administration of as much as 50 social accounts at one time, in realtime, displaying off its capabilities to create fleets of engagement that companies may use for critiques.
As well as, although this hasn’t but been confirmed for Manus, the identical tech may presumably used for all types of promoting and affect campaigns, even political propaganda or disinformation.
However for essentially the most half, AI energy customers and influencers within the West have been largely impressed and celebrated Manus’s arrival — awed by their preliminary checks of it as soon as they obtained a few of the scarce beta invitations, or noticed the work of others with entry to the device.
Rowan Cheung, founding father of The Rundown AI publication, described Manus AI’s launch as a possible turning level for AI brokers and mentioned “China’s second DeepSeek second is right here,” in a submit on his LinkedIn account.
“This AI agent known as ‘Manus’ goes loopy viral in China proper now… It’s like Deep Analysis + Operator + Claude Pc mixed, and it’s REALLY good.”
Cheung personally examined Manus and located that it:
- Created and deployed a biography web site about himself, with 100% accuracy and real-time information retrieval.
- Discovered prime rental spots in San Francisco primarily based on crime charges, AI {industry} presence, and entrepreneurship density.
- Developed a full AI course, producing eight chapters of content material, together with instruments, use instances, and prompts.
He obtained 500 invite codes from the Manus workforce and has been dolling them out to his subscribers and readers.
Former Googler and AI-focused YouTuber Bilawal Sidhu shared a hands-on video overview, calling Manus “the closest factor I’ve seen to an autonomous AI agent.”
“It’s such as you’re standing over the shoulder of any person utilizing a pc… asking them what to do on the highest stage, and it principally does it for you.”
Sidhu examined Manus on numerous duties, together with:
- Researching areas—scanning Google Maps and information sources to advocate one of the best locations primarily based on rules, accessibility, and security.
- Growing video purposes—automating video results equivalent to ASCII artwork and real-time filters.
- Extracting {industry} insights—pulling information from Reddit, Twitter, and different sources to generate complete stories.
Sidhu emphasised that Manus breaks down complicated workflows and executes them step-by-step, making it one of the autonomous AI brokers accessible immediately.
One other AI influencer, Chubby (@kimmonismus on X), claimed that Manus AI outperformed OpenAI’s Deep Analysis: “I don’t receives a commission for promotion. I simply tried preview entry, and it outperformed OpenAI’s Deep Analysis by loads! Thoughts-blowing.”
Andrew Wilkinson, co-founder of the startup exit supplier and acquirer Tiny, wrote on X that “It’s completely insane. I really feel like I simply time travelled six months into the long run. I threw it a zipper file of 20 candidates for a CEO job and it did a deep dive on every, one after the other…”
Large questions on Manus’s future stay
Regardless of the joy, questions and considerations have emerged about Manus AI’s true capabilities.
In keeping with the South China Morning Submit, only a few folks have been in a position to check Manus AI due to extreme server shortages following its sudden rise to fame.
Zhang Tao, Manus AI’s product companion, admitted in a social media submit: “The present invite-only mechanism is because of genuinely restricted server capability at this stage… The workforce underestimated the keenness of the general public response, and our server assets have been solely deliberate for an indication stage.”
This lack of availability has fueled hypothesis that Manus AI is likely to be utilizing shortage advertising and marketing techniques to generate hype. Invitation codes for Manus have been reportedly being bought on China’s second-hand market Xianyu, resulting in frustration amongst potential customers.
As well as, customers equivalent to @teortaxesTex on X (the self-described “stan #1”, or obsessive fan, of DeepSeek) opined that “it’s a product devilishly optimized for influencers, which is why it exploded a lot. Producing threadboy content material, journey plans and such common curiosity [mind blown emoji, hand pointing down emoji] stuff – yah. STEM help, coding – worse than googling. Extra LLM than agent.”
In different phrases, some consider it’s good for influencers trying to construct up a following by way of spammy lists and ideas posts, however not so good as different instruments at work like growth. Even former VentureBeat author and present TechCrunch-er Kyle Wiggers mentioned in a bit over the weekend, “Manus most likely isn’t China’s second ‘DeepSeek second’.”
Is Manus AI the actual deal?
In contrast to DeepSeek R1, which developed its personal basis mannequin, Manus AI depends on present massive language fashions (LLMs), equivalent to Claude and Qwen. This has led some critics to query how a lot of Manus’s know-how is actually unique.
Yichao Ji acknowledged this within the official introduction video, stating: “Manus operates as a multi-agent system powered by a number of distinct fashions.”
Regardless of this, Ji emphasised that Manus AI is dedicated to open-source growth and can launch a few of its fashions to the general public later this 12 months.
At present in non-public beta, Manus AI is barely accessible by way of invitation codes. The corporate plans to increase entry quickly, however server limitations could delay a full public launch. An open-source element is deliberate, permitting builders to combine elements of its AI system.
Whereas some view Manus AI as a breakthrough in autonomous AI brokers, others stay skeptical about its true capabilities, enterprise mannequin, and scalability. Because the hype round Manus AI continues to develop, the query stays: Is that this the subsequent DeepSeek second, or simply one other overhyped AI product?
