Why Manus May Not Mark China’s Second ‘DeepSeek Moment’
Manus, recently launched as an “agentic” AI platform, is causing a whirlwind of enthusiasm akin to that of a Taylor Swift concert. The head of product at Hugging Face hailed it as “the most impressive AI tool I’ve ever tried,” while AI policy researcher Dean Ball referred to it as the “most sophisticated computer using AI.” Within days, the official Discord server for Manus attracted over 138,000 members, and reports of invite codes being sold for thousands on the Chinese resale platform Xianyu emerged.
However, skepticism about the platform’s capabilities persists. Manus was not built from scratch; instead, it utilizes a blend of existing AI models, such as Anthropic’s Claude and Alibaba’s Qwen, to perform tasks like drafting reports and analyzing financial data. Despite ambitious claims about its functionalities—ranging from buying property to developing video games—evidence regarding its effectiveness appears mixed.
Yichao “Peak” Ji, a research lead for Manus, claimed it surpasses existing tools like OpenAI’s offerings, also known as deep research and Operator, on the GAIA benchmark, which evaluates an AI’s ability to execute tasks by accessing the web and using various software. He characterized Manus as an autonomous agent that facilitates seamless human-machine collaboration.
Yet early users have reported numerous issues, including error messages, slow processing times, and inaccuracies in factual responses. Alexander Doria, co-founder of AI startup Pleias, noted failures and miscalculations when testing Manus, while others highlighted its inconsistencies in citing sources and retrieving simple information.
My personal experience mirrored the frustrations of others. I asked Manus to order a fried chicken sandwich, but the platform crashed multiple times and ultimately couldn’t finalize the order. Furthermore, when tasked with booking a flight or making a dinner reservation, Manus repeatedly failed, leading me to abandon the efforts.
Despite its current limitations, Manus has achieved viral status, partly due to the scarcity of invites and the hype fueled by Chinese media hailing it as a significant advancement in AI. Misleading portrayals on social media further amplified its notoriety, with influencers inaccurately presenting it as a ground-breaking technology.
As Manus is in early access, its creators, Monica, claim they are actively working on scaling its capabilities and addressing user feedback. However, many observers sense that the excitement surrounding Manus may be outpacing its actual technological advancements.
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