Cease me for those who’ve heard this one earlier than: Just a little-known Chinese language startup is making waves globally for a powerful new AI product.
No, we’re not speaking about DeepSeek R1, the AI reasoning mannequin that made waves amongst Western AI circles earlier this yr. As an alternative, the recent new product du jour known as 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 studies or operating dozens of social media accounts on the consumer’s behalf.
If it sounds just like the Deep Analysis modes provided by OpenAI, Google, and others, in addition to OpenAI’s Operator agent and Anthropic’s Laptop Use mode (the latter two of which might, like Manus, take management of a consumer’s laptop or applications on it, transferring 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 staff leaders, and extra — what do they should find out about Manus and the capabilities it affords? 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 publish from the corporate describing it as “the primary common AI agent” that autonomously executes advanced duties quite than simply producing concepts.
In response to a South China Morning Publish (SCMP) report, Manus was developed by a Chinese language firm known as Butterfly Impact, which has workplaces 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 staff consists of 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 Know-how.
Xiao beforehand constructed WeChat-based purposes that had been acquired by bigger firms and later launched Monica.ai, an AI assistant obtainable 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.
Not like AI chatbots that help customers by offering info, Manus can analysis, analyze information, generate studies, automate workflows, and even write and deploy code.
In response to 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 staff is at present testing upgrading Manus to Anthropic’s latest and most performant mannequin, Claude 3.7, which is anticipated 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 at present in personal beta, with entry granted by means 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 robust benchmark efficiency, beating U.S. agency OpenAI’s personal o3-powered Deep Analysis agent and the “earlier state-of-the-art” in keeping 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 probably the most succesful autonomous AI brokers obtainable as we speak.
Past benchmarks, Manus has already confirmed itself on freelance platforms like Upwork and Fiverr and in Kaggle machine studying challenges, efficiently executing advanced real-world duties.
AI influencers have a good time 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 had been utilizing it to automate the administration of as much as 50 social accounts at one time, in realtime, exhibiting 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 selling and affect campaigns, even political propaganda or disinformation.
However for probably the most half, AI energy customers and influencers within the West had been largely impressed and celebrated Manus’s arrival — awed by their preliminary checks of it as soon as they obtained a number of the scarce beta invitations, or noticed the work of others with entry to the instrument.
Rowan Cheung, founding father of The Rundown AI publication, described Manus AI’s launch as a possible turning level for AI brokers and stated “China’s second DeepSeek second is right here,” in a publish on his LinkedIn account.
“This AI agent known as ‘Manus’ goes loopy viral in China proper now… It’s like Deep Analysis + Operator + Claude Laptop 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 trade presence, and entrepreneurship density.
- Developed a full AI course, producing eight chapters of content material, together with instruments, use circumstances, and prompts.
He obtained 500 invite codes from the Manus staff and has been dolling them out to his subscribers and readers.
Former Googler and AI-focused YouTuber Bilawal Sidhu shared a hands-on video evaluate, 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 degree, and it principally does it for you.”
Sidhu examined Manus on numerous duties, together with:
- Researching places—scanning Google Maps and information sources to suggest the most effective locations primarily based on laws, accessibility, and security.
- Growing video purposes—automating video results equivalent to ASCII artwork and real-time filters.
- Extracting trade insights—pulling information from Reddit, Twitter, and different sources to generate complete studies.
Sidhu emphasised that Manus breaks down advanced workflows and executes them step-by-step, making it probably the most autonomous AI brokers obtainable as we speak.
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 rather a lot! 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 longer term. 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…”
Huge questions on Manus’s future stay
Regardless of the thrill, questions and issues have emerged about Manus AI’s true capabilities.
In response to the South China Morning Publish, only a few folks have been in a position to take a look at Manus AI due to extreme server shortages following its sudden rise to fame.
Zhang Tao, Manus AI’s product associate, admitted in a social media publish: “The present invite-only mechanism is because of genuinely restricted server capability at this stage… The staff underestimated the passion of the general public response, and our server sources had been solely deliberate for an indication degree.”
This lack of availability has fueled hypothesis that Manus AI may be utilizing shortage advertising and marketing ways to generate hype. Invitation codes for Manus had been reportedly being offered 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 seeking to construct up a following by means of spammy lists and suggestions posts, however inferior to different instruments at work like growth. Even former VentureBeat author and present TechCrunch-er Kyle Wiggers stated in a chunk over the weekend, “Manus most likely isn’t China’s second ‘DeepSeek second’.”
Is Manus AI the true deal?
Not like DeepSeek R1, which developed its personal basis mannequin, Manus AI depends on current giant language fashions (LLMs), equivalent to Claude and Qwen. This has led some critics to query how a lot of Manus’s know-how is really authentic.
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 yr.
Presently in personal beta, Manus AI is simply obtainable by way of invitation codes. The corporate plans to broaden entry quickly, however server limitations might delay a full public launch. An open-source element is deliberate, permitting builders to combine components 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?
