Since normal AI agent Manus was launched final week, it has unfold on-line like wildfire. And never simply in China both, the place it was developed by Wuhan-based startup Butterfly Impact. It’s made its manner into the worldwide dialog, with influential voices in tech, together with Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey and Hugging Face product lead Victor Mustar, praising its efficiency. Some have even dubbed it “the second DeepSeek,” drawing comparisons to the sooner AI mannequin that took the trade abruptly—each for its surprising capabilities and its origin.
Manus claims to be the world’s first normal AI agent—leveraging a number of AI fashions (equivalent to Anthropic’s Claude 3.5 Sonnet and fine-tuned variations of Alibaba’s open-source Qwen), and varied independently working brokers to behave autonomously on a variety of duties. (That is completely different from AI chatbots, together with DeepSeek, which can be primarily based on a single giant language mannequin household and are primarily designed for conversational interactions.)
Regardless of all of the hype, only a few individuals have had an opportunity to make use of it. At present, below 1% of the customers on the waitlist have acquired an invitation code. (It’s unclear how many individuals are on this waitlist, however for a way of how a lot curiosity there may be, Manus’s Discord channel has greater than 186,000 members.)
MIT Expertise Overview was in a position to acquire entry to Manus, and once I gave it a take a look at drive, I discovered that utilizing it appears like collaborating with a extremely smart and environment friendly intern: Whereas it sometimes lacks understanding of what it’s being requested to do, makes incorrect assumptions, or cuts corners to expedite duties, it explains its reasoning clearly, is remarkably adaptable, and may enhance considerably when supplied with detailed directions or suggestions. In the end, it’s promising however not good.
Identical to its mother or father firm’s earlier product, an AI assistant known as Monica that was launched in 2023, Manus is meant for a worldwide viewers. English is ready because the default language, and its design is clear and minimalist.
To get in, a consumer has to enter a sound invite code. Then the system directs customers to a touchdown web page that carefully resembles these of ChatGPT or DeepSeek, with historic classes displayed in a left-hand column and a chat enter field within the heart. The touchdown web page additionally options pattern duties curated by the corporate—starting from enterprise technique growth to interactive studying to personalised audio meditation classes.
Like different reasoning-based agentic AI instruments, equivalent to ChatGPT DeepResearch, Manus is able to breaking duties down into steps and autonomously navigating the net to get the knowledge it wants to finish duties. What units it aside is the “Manus’s Laptop” window, which permits customers not solely to look at what the agent is doing, but additionally intervene at any level.
To place it to the take a look at, I tasked Manus with three assignments: (1) compile a listing of notable reporters masking China tech, (2) seek for two-bedroom property listings in New York Metropolis, and (3) nominate potential candidates for Innovators Under 35, a listing created by MIT Expertise Overview yearly.
Right here’s the way it did:
Activity 1: The primary checklist of reporters that Manus gave me contained solely 5 names, with 5 “honorable mentions” under them. I observed that it listed some journalists’ notable work whereas not others. I requested Manus why it did this. The explanation it provided was hilariously easy: It bought lazy. It was “partly because of time constraints as I attempted to expedite the analysis course of,” the agent informed me. After I insisted on consistency and thoroughness, Manus responded with a complete checklist of 30 journalists, noting their present outlet and itemizing notable work. (I used to be glad to see I made the reduce, together with a lot of my beloved friends.)
I used to be impressed that I used to be in a position to make top-level ideas for modifications, a lot as somebody would with a real-life intern or assistant, and that it responded in sort. And whereas it initially ignored some journalists’ employer standing modifications, once I requested it to revisit some outcomes, it shortly corrected them. One other good function: the output was downloadable as a Phrase or Excel file, making it straightforward to edit or share with others.
Manus hit a snag, although, when accessing journalists’ information articles behind paywalls; it regularly encountered CAPTCHA blocks. Since I used to be in a position to observe alongside step-by-step, I may simply take over to finish these, although many media websites nonetheless blocked the device because of suspicious exercise. I see potential for main enhancements right here—and it might be helpful if a future model of Manus may proactively ask for assist when it encounters these kinds of restrictions.
Activity 2: For the residence search, I gave Manus a posh set of standards, together with a funds, and parameters for a spacious kitchen, outside house, entry to downtown Manhattan, and a serious prepare station inside a seven-minute stroll. Manus initially interpreted imprecise necessities like “some type of outside entry” too actually, fully excluding properties with no personal terrace or balcony entry. Nevertheless, after extra steering and clarification, it was in a position to compile a broader and extra useful checklist, giving suggestions in tiers and neat bullet factors.
The ultimate output felt straight from Wirecutter, containing subtitles like “finest total,” “finest worth,” and “luxurious possibility.” This job (together with the backwards and forwards) took lower than half an hour—loads quicker than compiling the checklist of journalists (which took a bit over an hour), probably as a result of property listings are extra brazenly accessible and well-structured on-line.
Activity 3: This was the biggest in scope: I requested Manus to appoint 50 individuals for this yr’s Innovators Underneath 35 checklist. Producing this checklist is a gigantic enterprise and we usually get a whole lot of nominations yearly. So I used to be curious to see how nicely Manus may do. It broke the duty into steps, together with reviewing previous lists to grasp choice standards, making a search technique for figuring out candidates, compiling names, and making certain a various number of candidates from all around the world.
Growing a search technique was probably the most time-consuming half for Manus. Whereas it didn’t explicitly define its method, the Manus’s Laptop window revealed the agent quickly scrolling by web sites of prestigious analysis universities, bulletins of tech awards, and information articles. Nevertheless, it once more encountered obstacles when attempting to entry tutorial papers and paywalled media content material.
After three hours of scouring the web—throughout which Manus (understandably) requested me a number of instances whether or not I may slim the search—it was solely in a position to give me three candidates with full background profiles. After I pressed it once more to supply an entire checklist of fifty names, it will definitely generated one, however sure tutorial establishments and fields have been closely overrepresented, reflecting an incomplete analysis course of. After I identified the problem and requested it to search out 5 candidates from China, it managed to compile a strong five-name checklist, although the outcomes skewed towards Chinese language media darlings. In the end, I had to surrender after the system warned that Manus’s efficiency would possibly decline if I saved inputting an excessive amount of textual content.
My evaluation: Total, I discovered Manus to be a extremely intuitive device appropriate for customers with or with out coding backgrounds. On two of the three duties, it offered higher outcomes than once I introduced the identical duties to ChatGPT DeepResearch, although it took considerably longer to finish them. Manus appears finest suited to analytical duties that require in depth analysis on the open web, however have a restricted scope. In different phrases, it’s finest to stay to the types of issues a talented human intern may do throughout a day of labor.
Nonetheless, it’s not all easy crusing. Manus can endure from frequent crashes and system instability, and may wrestle when requested to course of giant chunks of textual content. The message “As a result of present excessive service load, duties can’t be created. Please attempt once more in a couple of minutes” flashed on my display just a few instances when beginning new requests, and sometimes Manus’s Laptop froze on a sure web page for a protracted time frame.
It has a better failure fee than ChatGPT DeepResearch—an issue the workforce is addressing, according to Manus’s chief scientist Peak Ji. That mentioned, Chinese language media outlet 36Kr reviews that Manus’s per-task value is about $2, which is simply one-tenth of DeepResearch’s value. If the Manus workforce strengthens its server infrastructure, I can see the device changing into a most popular selection for particular person customers, significantly white-collar professionals, unbiased builders, and small groups.
Lastly, I feel it’s actually worthwhile that Manus’s working course of feels extra clear and collaborative. It actively asks questions alongside the way in which and retains key directions as “information” in its reminiscence for future use, permitting for an simply customizable agentic expertise. It’s additionally very nice that every session is replayable and shareable.
I anticipate I’ll hold utilizing Manus for all kinds of duties, each in my private {and professional} lives. Whereas I’m unsure the comparisons to DeepSeek are fairly proper, it serves as additional proof that Chinese language AI corporations usually are not simply following within the footsteps of their Western counterparts. They aren’t simply innovating on base fashions, however actively shaping the adoption of autonomous AI brokers in their very own manner.
