Manus AI launched in China, challenging GPT and DeepSeek

Chinese artificial intelligence firm Manus AI launched a general AI agent, Manus, on Thursday, and it quickly went viral on social media, with many referring to it as "the second disruptor after DeepSeek" and calling it "the GPT moment" for AI agents.

AI agents are autonomous intelligent systems performing specific tasks without human intervention.

Manus said that based on the GAIA Benchmark, a standard for general AI assistants, its tool has achieved state-of-the-art performance across all three difficulty levels, surpassing OpenAI's models.

"This isn't just another chatbot or workflow tool," said Ji Yichao, co-founder and chief scientist at Manus AI. "It's a truly autonomous agent that bridges the gap between conception and execution."

"Where other AI stop at generating ideas, Manus delivers results," he said, adding that the team has been quietly building what it believes is the next evolution in AI.

As of Thursday, the so-called Manus invitation codes were being resold for nearly 100,000 yuan（$13,797）on the second-hand trading platform Xianyu.

According to database firm Tianyancha, Manus' founder, Xiao Hong, established the company in 2015 but exited as a shareholder in December 2024. Following his departure, shareholders including Tencent's venture capital firm increased their registered capital contributions.

Additionally, Monica.im, the operator Manus, and a related company linked to tech firm Beijing Butterfly Effect Technology Co Ltd secured a seeding round of investment from ZhenFund in July 2022.

Industry experts believed that the significance of the Manus ecosystem strategy lies in introducing a new business model to the industry—building a general AI agent ecosystem. This could emerge as the second-largest AI application scenario after AI-powered search.

Tech sector consultancy and research firm Gartner reported in January 2024 that 21 percent of enterprises had already integrated AI agents into their production workflows. By 2026, this figure is projected to exceed 80 percent.