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 give it basic instructions. The company claims its service outperforms OpenAI’s DeepResearch in some ways.

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

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.

Yiran Chen, a professor of electrical and computer engineering at Duke University, calls Manus an unfinished product. He believes that Manus wants to have a first-mover advantage to attract investment, despite the fact that the product is not yet fully developed.

There are still many questions surrounding Manus and its product, such as whether Manus builds its own system or builds on top of other developers’ models. The first approach could cost tens of millions of dollars or more.

According to Chinese media, Butterfy Effect – the company behind Manus – has raised more than $10 million in investment.

Unlike DeepSeek and some US companies, Manus does not publish detailed reports at product launch to provide information about technology development.

Those who want to try Manus have two options: standard mode or high-effort mode, the latter of which requires more request processing time.

Yong Qian, founder of OmniEdge, said Manus “creates a to-do list, goes through each step, fixes errors along the way, and asks questions if new commands are needed” before providing feedback.

In recent months, OpenAI, Anthropic, and other AI companies have launched AI agents that can use a user's computer to browse the web, search online, and do multi-step tasks.

Still, some Manus users claim that the tool is superior to what's already on the market.

“I have tried hundreds of AI tools. I try a new one every day,” said Ashutosh Shrivastava, a software developer in Bangalore, India. “ I have never seen anything like Manus.”

(According to Bloomberg)

Manus AI, the 'existential crisis' of workers Manus AI – the world's first autonomous AI agent developed by China – is shaking up the global tech world, while raising legal and ethical issues.