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Another DeepSeek moment? General AI agent Manus shows ability to handle complex tasks

While Manus has provided little information to the public, its demonstration video has triggered massive interest in China’s AI community

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An AI sign attracts interest on the opening day of the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Spain on March 3, 2025. Photo: EPA-EFE
Wency Chenin Shanghai

A general artificial intelligence (AI) agent developed by a low-profile team backed by Chinese investors and developers has quickly gained attention in the AI community for its ability to handle complex, real-world tasks.

Manus, currently available as an invitation-only web preview, can execute practical tasks such as creating a custom website through a step-by-step process, according to a demonstration video on its website manus.im.

The website also listed tasks that can be done by the Manus AI agent, which include devising an itinerary for a trip to Japan, providing an in-depth analysis of Tesla’s stock, creating an interactive course for middle-school teachers, comparing different insurance policies, and assisting in business-to-business supplier sourcing, among others.

It also claims that Manus can outperform OpenAI’s Deep Research based on the GAIA benchmark, a third-party measure of general AI assistants.

The DeepSeek logo is seen in this illustration taken January 27, 2025. Photo: Reuters
The DeepSeek logo is seen in this illustration taken January 27, 2025. Photo: Reuters

While Manus has provided little information about its corporate structure, its team and underlying models for the agent, the demo video has triggered massive interest. The video, published on X on Wednesday night, had received over 200,000 views by noon Thursday, with many comments asking for an invitation code to try the agent.

Wency tells stories that explore how technologies are reshaping society, with a focus on cross-border e-commerce, AI, the supply chain and others. Before joining SCMP, Wency contributed to KrASIA, Wired, Rest of World, World of Chinese, Tech in Asia, Vice China (BIE), Harper's Bazaar, etc. She attended Columbia Journalism School.
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