Ironically, you almost need AI assistance to keep up with the breakneck pace of advancements in AI models, chatbots, and software. It was much simpler times when ChatGPT still had that new-car scent, and we could all happily and simply point to that as the shining example of what an AI assistant is. However, the times, they are a-changing — and they're changing quite fast.
Unfortunately for OpenAI, and anyone trying to tread water in an ever-widening gyre of AI news, the wider AI landscape is now crowded with several large and competitive models all vying to be crowned the current AI meta — from Anthropic's best-kept-secret Claude to Google's Gemini underdog, the established Microsoft Copilot to the fledgling Apple Intelligence, and the unleashed Grok to the cheap (and steeped in controversy) DeepSeek.
And that's just the "mainstream" crowd. Beyond them lies a tidal wave of proactive AI agents, chatbots that don't just reply, but react with thought, reason, planning, and eventually execution. These aren't just AI coaches shouting from the sidelines, they're charging into the end-zone, ball in hand, and scoring you the winning goal. In theory, at least.
Enter Manus, an autonomous "general agent" from Chinese AI startup Monica. Currently enjoying a swell of hype and fervor online, Manus is positioned by some as the future of the AI assistant, with Hugging Face's head of product, Victor Mustar, calling it the "most impressive AI tool I've ever tried." It's this kind of hype that has led to invite codes to the freshly released tool being highly sought after, with some users even taking to eBay to cash in on their Manus accounts for up to $1,000 a pop.
The hype is undeniable. But what exactly is Manus? Is an AI agent ready to take the wheel, or is this just another bot donning a shiny new buzzword? Let's take a closer look.
What is Manus?
Manus is an autonomous AI agent developed by Monica, a Chinese AI startup, that relies on Claude Sonnet and Qwen finetunes models over a proprietary option to handle complex tasks with minimal human oversight.
Manus is claimed to be the world's first fully autonomous AI agent. To put it simply, Manus can take a single vague input, say a request to help book a trip, and break it down into subtasks to execute step by step. Hopefully, when it returns to you, it does so with a full itinerary of potential destinations, flights, prices, and more.
As Manus Co-founder and Chief Scientist Yichao "Peak" Ji puts it, in the Introducing Manus: The General AI Agent video (shown below) published to YouTube on March 5, "This isn't just another chatbot or workflow, it's a truly autonomous agent that bridges the gap between conception and execution. While other AIs stop at generating ideas, Manus delivers results."
Why is Manus important?
So, we know what Manus is set up to be, but why is it important? One of the key words from Manus' introduction to pay attention to is autonomous. Manus is designed to not only offer solutions to problems but to work them out on behalf of the user without any hand-holding.
This is known also as agentic AI, with models capable of acting independently to achieve an outcome. Showcasing the potential of these models, "Peak" goes through three demos in the introducing Manus video.
The first revealed how the AI can be used for screening resumes contained within a .zip file and presenting a spreadsheet of the results.
The second example saw Manus researching properties in New York based on certain criteria before writing its own Python program to calculate the user's budget and find suitable accommodation before providing a final report.
The third saw Manus manage stock analysis, interacting with APIs to complete its analysis before publishing the results as a website with interactable charts directly to the internet. Each example is triggered by a simple user prompt.
Got access and it's true... Manus is the most impressive AI tool I've ever tried.- The agentic capabilities are mind-blowing, redefining what's possible. - The UX is what so many others promised... but this time it just works.prompt: "code a threejs game where you control a… pic.twitter.com/rUD2XV4ZVKMarch 8, 2025
In the hands of users, Manus has even been used to create Threejs games like rudimentary flight sims, Crossy Road/Frogger clones or endless runners, vibrant animations with p5js, edit podcasts, and even design entire websites.
Manus is praised for its ability to take action on user prompts and deliver outcomes, rather than be another chatbot that just summarizes the popular opinions and methods found within Reddit threads and websites across the internet — and it helps that its developers have claimed that it surpasses even OpenAI's Deep Research in the GAIA (General AI Assistants) benchmark.
Manus' importance comes from the fact that it allows users to achieve complex results with little knowledge of how to execute them, in a fraction of the time it would take even skilled users to achieve.
How to use Manus
Right now, Manus is in private beta, with access to the tool limited to those with an invite. As mentioned, this hard turned Manus invites and accounts into something of a hot commodity online with accounts offering access to Manus being resold online — capitalizing on the hype surrounding the tool as its exclusivity creates an aura of FOMO (fear of missing out) in the tech world.
Users interested in checking out Manus for themselves can join the waitlist for the private beta by visiting the Manus.im homepage, and applying for access.
That said, Manus has been reverse-engineered already, and an invite-free version of the tool called OpenManus has appeared on GitHub for all users to make use of — assuming you have a powerful enough GPU, at least 200GB of storage available, and the patience to set it up.
Controversy
As to be expected with any powerful tool such as Manus emanating from China (see: DeepSeek), there are the standard concerns about transparency and data privacy.
However, Manus is also generating some level of notoriety surrounding the likelihood of Monica's overpromising of its capabilities with Forbes contributor Lutz Finger calling the tool "far from novel," "overhyped," and "just another large language model executing scripted workflows," claiming that Manus will face the same limitations of OpenAI's DeepResearch model — offering "plausible-sounding but fundamentally flawed insights."
Another piece of controversy surrounding the tool is its extensive use of AI influencers to signal its arrival, many of whom are circulating the same examples of its successes. Meanwhile, other users have found the tool to be buggy, initiating endless loops, giving out factual errors, and even failing basic tasks.
after giving Manus a spin I conclude it's a product devilishly optimized for influencers, which is why it exploded so much. Generating threadboy content, trip plans and such general interest 🤯👇 stuff – yah. STEM assistance, coding – worse than googling. More LLM than agent. pic.twitter.com/GqrKtZY2fxMarch 9, 2025
Outlook
Manus is undeniably intriguing and offers a glimpse of what a truly autonomous AI agent can accomplish. That said, we've been burned by bold claims before, and until this tool exits private beta, it's best to take it for what it is: promising but not yet fully proven.
Whether Manus turns out to be the revolutionary breakthrough that its introductory video claims it to be remains to be seen. However, it is an exciting step toward that breakthrough, even if it is still a little rough around the edges.
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