Manus, an “agentic” AI platform that launched in preview final week, is producing extra hype than a Taylor Swift live performance.
The pinnacle of product at Hugging Face called Manus “essentially the most spectacular AI device I’ve ever tried.” AI coverage researcher Dean Ball described Manus because the “most refined pc utilizing AI.” The official Discord server for Manus grew to over 138,000 members in only a few days, and invite codes for Manus are reportedly promoting for hundreds of {dollars} on Chinese language reseller app Xianyu.
Nevertheless it’s not clear the hype is justified.
wonderful https://t.co/TfeV9QZ1d0
— jack (@jack) March 9, 2025
Manus wasn’t developed totally from scratch. According to reports on social media, the platform makes use of a mix of present and fine-tuned AI fashions, together with Anthropic’s Claude and Alibaba’s Qwen, to carry out duties akin to drafting analysis reviews and analyzing monetary filings.
But on its web site, Monica — the Chinese language startup behind Manus — offers a number of wild examples of what the platform supposedly can accomplish, from buying real estate to programming video games.
In a viral video on X, Yichao “Peak” Ji, a analysis lead for Manus, implied that the platform was superior to agentic instruments akin to OpenAI’s deep research and Operator. Manus outperforms deep analysis on a well-liked benchmark for normal AI assistants known as GAIA, Ji claimed, which probes an AI’s potential to hold out work by looking the online, utilizing software program, and extra.
“[Manus] isn’t simply one other chatbot or workflow,” Ji mentioned within the video. “It’s a very autonomous agent that bridges the hole between conception and execution […] We see it as the following paradigm of human-machine collaboration.”
However some early customers say that Manus is not any panacea.
Alexander Doria, the co-founder of AI startup Pleias, said in a post on X that he encountered error messages and limitless loops whereas testing Manus. Different X customers pointed out that Manus makes mistakes on factual questions and doesn’t consistently cite its work — and often misses information that’s easily found online.
Deep Analysis completed in underneath quarter-hour. Sadly, Manus AI failed after 50 minutes at step 18/20! 😑 It was performing fairly well-I used to be watching Manus’ output & it appeared wonderful. Nevertheless, working the identical immediate a second time is a bit irritating because it takes too lengthy! https://t.co/bGtmOI65CP
— Derya Unutmaz, MD (@DeryaTR_) March 8, 2025
My very own expertise with Manus hasn’t been extremely constructive.
I requested the platform to deal with what appeared to me like a fairly simple request: order a fried hen sandwich from a top-rated quick meals joint in my supply vary. After about ten minutes, Manus crashed. On the second try, it discovered a menu merchandise that met my standards, however Manus couldn’t full the ordering course of — or present a checkout hyperlink, even.
Manus equally whiffed after I requested it to e-book a flight from NYC to Japan. Given directions that I assumed didn’t go away a lot room for ambiguity (e.g. “search for a business-class flight, prioritizing worth and versatile dates”), the very best Manus may do was serve up hyperlinks to fares throughout a number of airline web sites and airfare search engines like google like Kayak, a few of which had been damaged.
Hoping the following few duties could be the attraction, I advised Manus to order a desk for one at a restaurant inside strolling distance. It failed after a couple of minutes. Then I requested the platform to construct a Naruto-inspired combating recreation. It errored out half an hour in, which is after I determined to throw within the towel.
Sincere opinion after attempting Manus AI for the final 3 days, right here’s the great and the dangerous.
Good:
– The analysis it does on the web and the reviews it generates are unimaginable.
– Its potential to run scripts behind the scenes to execute duties is spectacular.
– The plans it…— AshutoshShrivastava (@ai_for_success) March 9, 2025
We’ve reached out to Monica for remark and can replace this put up if we hear again.
So if Manusis is falling in need of its technical guarantees, why did it blow up? A number of elements contributed, such because the exclusivity created by a scarcity of invites.
Chinese language media was fast to tout Manus as an AI breakthrough; publication QQ News called it “the pleasure of home merchandise.” In the meantime, AI influencers on social media unfold misinformation about Manus’ capabilities. A widely-shared video confirmed a desktop program, ostensibly Manus, taking motion throughout a number of smartphone apps. Ji confirmed that the video wasn’t, in reality, a demo of Manus.
Different influential AI accounts on X sought to attract comparisons between Manus and Chinese language AI firm DeepSeek — comparisons not essentially rooted in reality. Monica didn’t develop in-house fashions, not like DeepSeek. And whereas DeepSeek made a lot of its applied sciences brazenly obtainable, Monica hasn’t — at least not quite yet.
To be honest to Monica, Manus is in early entry. The corporate claims it’s working to scale computing capability and repair points as they’re reported. However because the platform presently exists, Manus seems to be a case of hype working forward of technological innovation.
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