Manus, an \u201cagentic\u201d AI platform that launched in preview last week, is generating more hype than a Taylor Swift concert.<\/p>\n
The head of product at Hugging Face called Manus<\/a> \u201cthe most impressive AI tool I\u2019ve ever tried.\u201d AI policy researcher Dean Ball described<\/a> Manus as the \u201cmost sophisticated computer using AI.\u201d The official Discord server<\/a> for Manus grew to over 138,000 members in just a few days, and invite codes for Manus are reportedly<\/a> selling for thousands of dollars on Chinese reseller app Xianyu.<\/p>\n But it\u2019s not clear the hype is justified.<\/p>\n excellent https:\/\/t.co\/TfeV9QZ1d0<\/a><\/p>\n \u2014 jack (@jack) March 9, 2025<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n Manus wasn\u2019t developed entirely from scratch. According to reports<\/a> on social media, the platform uses a combination of existing and fine-tuned AI models, including Anthropic\u2019s Claude and Alibaba\u2019s Qwen, to perform tasks such as drafting research reports and analyzing financial filings. <\/p>\n Yet on its website, The Butterfly Effect \u2014 the Chinese company behind Manus \u2014 gives a few wild examples of what the platform supposedly can accomplish, from buying real estate to programming video games<\/a>.<\/p>\n In a viral video<\/a> on X, Yichao \u201cPeak\u201d Ji, a research lead for Manus, implied that the platform was superior to agentic tools such as OpenAI\u2019s deep research<\/a> and Operator<\/a>. Manus outperforms deep research on a popular benchmark for general AI assistants called GAIA, Ji claimed, which probes an AI\u2019s ability to carry out work by browsing the web, using software, and more. <\/p>\n \u201c[Manus] isn\u2019t just another chatbot or workflow,\u201d Ji said in the video. \u201cIt\u2019s a completely autonomous agent that bridges the gap between conception and execution [\u2026] We see it as the next paradigm of human-machine collaboration.\u201d<\/p>\n But some early users say that Manus is no panacea.<\/p>\n Alexander Doria, the co-founder of AI startup Pleias, said in a post on X<\/a> that he encountered error messages and endless loops while testing Manus. Other X users pointed out that Manus makes mistakes on factual questions<\/a> and doesn\u2019t consistently cite its work<\/a> \u2014 and often misses information that\u2019s easily found online<\/a>.<\/p>\n Deep Research finished in under 15 minutes. Unfortunately, Manus AI failed after 50 minutes at step 18\/20! \ud83d\ude11 It was performing quite well-I was watching Manus\u2019 output & it seemed excellent. However, running the same prompt a second time is a bit frustrating as it takes too long! https:\/\/t.co\/bGtmOI65CP<\/a><\/p>\n \u2014 Derya Unutmaz, MD (@DeryaTR_) March 8, 2025<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n My own experience with Manus hasn\u2019t been incredibly positive.<\/p>\n I asked the platform to handle what seemed to me like a pretty straightforward request: order a fried chicken sandwich from a top-rated fast food joint in my delivery range. After about ten minutes, Manus crashed. On the second attempt, it found a menu item that met my criteria, but Manus couldn\u2019t complete the ordering process \u2014 or provide a checkout link, even.<\/p>\n Manus similarly whiffed when I asked it to book a flight from NYC to Japan. Given instructions that I thought didn\u2019t leave much room for ambiguity (e.g. \u201clook for a business-class flight, prioritizing price and flexible dates\u201d), the best Manus could do was serve up links to fares across several airline websites and airfare search engines like Kayak, some of which were broken.<\/p>\n Hoping the next few tasks might be the charm, I told Manus to reserve a table for one at a restaurant within walking distance. It failed after a few minutes. Then I asked the platform to build a Naruto-inspired fighting game. It errored out half an hour in, which is when I decided to throw in the towel.<\/p>\n Honest opinion after trying Manus AI for the last 3 days, here\u2019s the good and the bad. <\/p>\n Good: \u2014 AshutoshShrivastava (@ai_for_success) March 9, 2025<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n A spokesperson for Manus sent TechCrunch the following statement via DM: <\/p>\n \u201cAs a small team, our focus is to keep improving Manus and make AI agents that actually help users solve problems [\u2026] The primary goal of the current closed beta is to stress-test various parts of the system and identify issues. We deeply appreciate the valuable insights shared by everyone.\u201d<\/p>\n So if Manusis is falling short of its technical promises, why did it blow up? A few factors contributed, such as the exclusivity created by a scarcity of invites<\/a>.<\/p>\n Chinese media was quick to tout Manus as an AI breakthrough; publication QQ News called it<\/a> \u201cthe pride of domestic products.\u201d Meanwhile, AI influencers on social media spread misinformation about Manus\u2019 capabilities. A widely-shared video<\/a> showed a desktop program, ostensibly Manus, taking action across multiple smartphone apps. Ji confirmed<\/a> that the video wasn\u2019t, in fact, a demo of Manus.<\/p>\n Other influential<\/a> AI<\/a> accounts<\/a> on X sought to draw comparisons between Manus and Chinese AI company DeepSeek<\/a> \u2014 comparisons not necessarily rooted in fact. The Butterfly Effect didn\u2019t develop any in-house models, unlike DeepSeek. And while DeepSeek made many of its technologies openly available, Monica hasn\u2019t \u2014 at least not quite yet<\/a>.<\/p>\n To be fair to The Butterfly Effect, Manus is in very early access. The company claims it\u2019s working to scale computing capacity and fix issues as they\u2019re reported. But as the platform currently exists, Manus appears to be a case of hype running ahead of technological innovation.<\/p>\n Updated 6:02 p.m. Pacific: Added a statement from a Manus spokesperson and corrected a misidentification of the company behind Manus.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n
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![\"Manus\"](\"https:\/\/techcrunch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/Screenshot-2025-03-09-at-1.02.21PM.png?w=680\")
![\"Manus\"](\"https:\/\/techcrunch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/Screenshot-2025-03-09-at-1.41.07PM.png?w=680\")
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\u2013 The research it does on the internet and the reports it generates are incredible.
\u2013 Its ability to run scripts behind the scenes to execute tasks is impressive.
\u2013 The plans it\u2026<\/p>\n