Manus challenges American AI

The world's first autonomous AI Agent from Chinese startup Manus continues to raise questions about America's position in the artificial intelligence race.

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Manus AI once again raises questions about the US position on the AI ​​front. Photo: VCG

Many leading US AI developers are racing to develop AI Agents that can perform complex tasks on behalf of users, but have not succeeded. However, a small Chinese startup claims to have done this.

Manus AI last week released a preview of its general-purpose AI Agent tool, which can scan candidate profiles, plan travel itineraries, and analyze stocks when users provide basic instructions. The company claims its service outperforms OpenAI’s DeepResearch in some ways.

Manus co-founder and chief scientist Yichao Ji in a demo video. Source: Manus AI

While some AI agents still require some human supervision, Manus co-founder and chief scientist Yichao Ji said the AI ​​is “truly autonomous.” The demo video quickly went viral, leading to a scramble for trial codes for the tool.

The initial buzz put Manus on the same level as DeepSeek, a fellow startup that surprised Silicon Valley with its low-cost, high-performance AI model in January.

Like DeepSeek, Manus is once again questioning America’s leadership in AI, this time in a category that American tech companies see as a key investment area.

But the reactions of those who have had a chance to try Manus have been mixed, according to Bloomberg. Derya Unutmaz, a professor at Jackson’s research lab, praised the tool for producing “high-quality results” even though it “took longer than DeepResearch to do the job.”

Others complained that the service was too slow and sometimes crashed before completing a task, likely due to Manus’s limited computing resources. Some users also found that Manus was riddled with errors.

Elon Musk's X Hacked

On March 10, Elon Musk's social network X suffered a large-scale cyber attack, leaving users in Asia, Europe and North America unable to access it.

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X had an accident before 6am on March 10 (local time). Photo: NurPhoto

According to Downdetector, at its peak there were more than 40,000 incident reports. Elon Musk suggested that the attack could have been carried out by a nation or an organized group.

In an interview with Fox Business , he revealed that the computers involved in the attack appeared to have IP addresses from the Ukraine region.

“We don't know exactly what happened but there was a massive cyber attack trying to take down System X with IP addresses originating from the Ukraine region,” Elon Musk said.

According to Bloomberg , this is not the first time Musk has blamed a service disruption on a cyberattack. In 2024, he also said that X suffered a “massive” DDoS cyberattack that led to the postponement of a meeting between him and then-Republican candidate Donald Trump.

Starship explodes in mid-sky

SpaceX's Starship spacecraft exploded in mid-air after taking off from the launch pad in Texas.

The launch took place at 5:30 p.m. local time on March 6 at SpaceX's Starbase facility in Texas (USA) and is expected to advance Elon Musk's goal of deploying a rocket capable of launching multiple satellites into space at once.

The rocket's first stage, Super Heavy, returned to Earth on schedule and was successfully caught by SpaceX's crane.

However, less than 10 minutes after launch, the upper stage of the Starship began to spin out of control in space, many engines stopped working and communication with the ship was completely lost.

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Bright streaks of light in the sky over the Bahamas caused by the explosion of SpaceX's Starship spacecraft. Photo: X

The Starship exploded and live television footage showed fiery debris falling over the Caribbean.

The US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) ordered a temporary suspension of flights at several airports, including Miami, Fort Lauderdale, Palm Beach and Orlando due to concerns about debris from the explosion.

SpaceX confirmed the Starship failure in an official statement. The cause is believed to be a malfunction in the spacecraft's tail, which resulted in the loss of several Raptor engines and caused the ship to explode.

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Unimpressive AI poses a major challenge for Apple Analyst Ming-Chi Kuo believes that the delay of Siri's Apple Intelligence features could continue to impact iPhone 16 and iPhone 17 sales in the coming months.