Manus, an AI “Agentic” platform that started in the preview last week, is creating more advertising campaign than a Taylor Swift concert.
Product Head in Face Hugging Is called manus “The most impressive AI tool I’ve ever tried.” AI Dean Ball Policy Researcher is described Manus as “more sophisticated computer using AI”. THE Disagreement server for Manus increased to over 138,000 members in just a few days and invite Manus codes are expected Sale for thousands of dollars in Chinese reseller Xianyu.
But it is not clear that the advertising campaign is justified.
– Jack (@jack) 9 March 2025
Manus did not develop entirely from zero. According to reports In social media, the platform uses a combination of existing and refined AI models, including Anthropic and Alibaba’s CLAUDE, to perform duties such as the drafting of research reports and analyzing financial deposits.
However, on its website, the butterfly effect – the Chinese company behind Manus – gives some wild examples of what the platform is supposed to achieve, from the purchase of real estate to video game programming.
To one viral video In X, Yichao “Peak” Ji, a researcher for Manus, implied that the platform was superior to practical tools such as the deep research and operator of Openai. Manus goes beyond the deep research in a popular reference point for AI General Assistants called GAIA, JI claimed, which is investigating AI’s ability to work on the internet, using software and much more.
“[Manus] It’s not just another chatbot or workflow, “Ji told the video.” It’s a completely autonomous agent who bridges the gap between arrest and execution […] We see it as the next example of human machine cooperation. ”
But some early users say Manus is not a panacea.
Alexander Doria, co -founder of Ai Startup Pleias, said in a post in x that he faced error messages and endless loops while testing the manus. Other users x pointed out that Manus makes mistakes in real questions and does not consistently report his work And Often loses information that is easily found on the internet.
Deep research ended in less than 15 minutes. Unfortunately, Manus AI failed after 50 minutes in Step 18/20! 😑 Performed quite well I was watching the production of Manus and seemed great. However, the execution of the same exhortation for the second time is a bit disappointing as it lasts a long time!
– derya unutmaz, md (@deryatr_) 8 March 2025
My experience with Manus was not incredibly positive.
I asked the platform to handle what seemed to me as a pretty simple request: to order a fried chicken sandwich from a top fast food connection to my delivery range. After about ten minutes, Manus crashed. In the second attempt, he found an element of a menu that met my criteria, but Manus could not complete the order process – or provide a checkout link, even.
Manus similarly, when I asked him to close a flight from New York to Japan. Given instructions that I thought they did not leave much room for ambiguity (eg, “Look for a business category flight, priority in price and flexible dates”), the best manus could do was serve links to fares on various airlines and airlines and airlines.
Hoping that the next tasks could be the charm, I told Manus to keep a table for a restaurant nearby. Failed after a few minutes. Then, I asked the platform to build a Naruto -inspired battle game. It issued half an hour, that is, when I decided to throw the towel.
Honest opinion after trying Manus AI for the last 3 days, here is good and bad.
Good:
– The research he does on the internet and the reports he creates are incredible.
– His ability to run scenarios behind the scenes for performing duties is impressive.
– The plans …– ashutoshshrivastava (@Ai_for_success) 9 March 2025
A representative for Manus sent TechCrunch the following statement via DM:
“As a small group, our focus is to continue to improve Manus and make AI agents that really help users solve problems […] The primary goal of the current closed beta is to test different parts of the system and identify issues. We deeply appreciate the valuable knowledge that everyone shares. ”
So if Manusis is not short of his technical promises, why was he blown up? Some factors contributed, such as the exclusivity created by a lack of invitations.
The Chinese media have rushed to deal with Manus as a AI revolution. Post QQ News called it “The pride of domestic products.” In the meantime, AI’s influences on social media are spreading misinformation about Manus’s potential. A widely loose video It showed a desktop program, seemingly manus, taking action on multiple smartphone applications. Ji confirmed That the video was not, in fact, a manus demo.
Other influential All included accounts In X he tried to make comparisons between Manus and the Chinese company AI Deepseek – comparisons that were not necessarily rooted in reality. The butterfly effect did not develop internal models, unlike Deepseek. And while Deepseek made many of its technologies openly available, Monica has no – at least not yet.
To be fair with the butterfly, Manus is in very early access. The company claims to be working to escalate in IT ability and determining problems as mentioned. But, as the platform exists today, Manus seems to be a case of an advertising campaign running in front of technological innovation.
Updated 6:02 PM Pacific: A statement was added by a manus representative and corrected a misunderstanding of the company behind Manus.
