Manus, an “agentic” AI platform that introduced in preview final week, is producing extra hype than a Taylor Swift live performance.
The pinnacle of product at Hugging Face known as Manus “essentially the most spectacular AI device I’ve ever attempted.” AI coverage researcher Dean Ball described Manus because the “maximum subtle laptop the use of AI.” The reputable Discord server for Manus grew to over 138,000 contributors in only a few days, and invite codes for Manus are reportedly promoting for 1000’s of greenbacks on Chinese language reseller app Xianyu.
But it surely’s now not transparent the hype is justified.
superb https://t.co/TfeV9QZ1d0
— jack (@jack) March 9, 2025
Manus wasn’t evolved solely from scratch. In keeping with studies 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 accomplish duties equivalent to drafting analysis studies and examining monetary filings.
But on its website online, Monica — the Chinese language startup at the back of Manus — provides a couple of wild examples of what the platform supposedly can accomplish, from purchasing actual property to programming video video games.
In a viral video on X, Yichao “Top” Ji, a analysis lead for Manus, implied that the platform used to be awesome to agentic gear equivalent to OpenAI’s deep analysis and Operator. Manus outperforms deep analysis on a well-liked benchmark for basic AI assistants known as GAIA, Ji claimed, which probes an AI’s talent to hold out paintings via surfing the internet, the use of instrument, and extra.
“[Manus] isn’t simply every other chatbot or workflow,” Ji stated within the video. “It’s a fully self reliant agent that bridges the distance between conception and execution […] We see it as the following paradigm of human-machine collaboration.”
However some early customers say that Manus isn’t any panacea.
Alexander Doria, the co-founder of AI startup Pleias, stated in a put up on X that he encountered error messages and never-ending loops whilst trying out Manus. Different X customers identified that Manus makes errors on factual questions and doesn’t persistently cite its paintings — and frequently misses knowledge that’s simply discovered on-line.
Deep Analysis completed in underneath quarter-hour. Sadly, Manus AI failed after 50 mins at step 18/20! It used to be appearing reasonably well-I used to be staring at Manus’ output & it appeared superb. Then again, operating the similar steered a 2nd time is somewhat irritating because it takes too lengthy! https://t.co/bGtmOI65CP
— Derya Unutmaz, MD (@DeryaTR_) March 8, 2025
My very own enjoy with Manus hasn’t been extremely certain.
I requested the platform to take care of what looked as if it would me like a horny easy request: order a fried rooster sandwich from a top-rated rapid meals joint in my supply vary. After about ten mins, Manus crashed. On the second one try, it discovered a menu merchandise that met my standards, however Manus couldn’t whole the ordering procedure — or supply a checkout hyperlink, even.
Manus in a similar fashion whiffed once I requested it to ebook a flight from NYC to Japan. Given directions that I believed didn’t depart a lot room for ambiguity (e.g. “search for a business-class flight, prioritizing worth and versatile dates”), the most productive Manus may do used to be serve up hyperlinks to fares throughout a number of airline internet sites and airfare engines like google like Kayak, a few of that have been damaged.
Hoping the following few duties could be the attraction, I advised Manus to order a desk for one at a cafe inside of strolling distance. It failed after a couple of mins. Then I requested the platform to construct a Naruto-inspired preventing recreation. It errored out part an hour in, which is once I made up our minds to throw within the towel.
Truthful opinion after making an attempt Manus AI for the final 3 days, right here’s the nice and the dangerous.
Just right:
– The analysis it does on the net and the studies it generates are unbelievable.
– Its talent to run scripts at the back of 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 listen again.
So if Manusis is falling wanting its technical guarantees, why did it blow up? A couple of elements contributed, such because the exclusivity created via a shortage of invitations.
Chinese language media used to be fast to tout Manus as an AI step forward; newsletter QQ Information known as it “the satisfaction of home merchandise.” In the meantime, AI influencers on social media unfold incorrect information about Manus’ functions. A widely-shared video confirmed a desktop program, ostensibly Manus, taking motion throughout a couple of smartphone apps. Ji showed 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 corporate DeepSeek — comparisons now not essentially rooted in reality. Monica didn’t broaden in-house fashions, in contrast to DeepSeek. And whilst DeepSeek made a lot of its applied sciences overtly to be had, Monica hasn’t — a minimum of now not reasonably but.
To be honest to Monica, Manus is in early get right of entry to. The corporate claims it’s running to scale computing capability and fasten problems as they’re reported. However because the platform lately exists, Manus seems to be a case of hype operating forward of technological innovation.
agent,deepseek,manus
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