Manus AI: The Next Chinese AI Sensation?
Manus AI is largely just a marketing stunt, not a DeepSeek Moment
Manus AI: Too Good to be True?
DeepSeek-R1 launched less than two months ago, and somehow that feels like an eternity ago in the world of AI, which has quickly turned into a global Arms Race.
Recently, my entire social media feed has been filled with posts, videos and comments about Manus AI, a seemingly picture-perfect Autonomous AI agent. The media was quick to declare we were having “another DeepSeek moment” before folks were able to even get their hands on it.
It cannot be disputed that 2025 has seen China rise as a formidable player in the AI game. Bolstered by a strong tech community, forward-leaning AI government policies, and a thriving open-source community, China has put Silicon Valley on notice. But the emergence of Manus, another small startup out of China, so soon after DeepSeek, begs the question: is the US starting to lose its grip over AI supremacy?
Source: theconversation.com
Manus AI: What We Know
According to its website, Manus is a general AI agent that turns your thoughts into actions. It excels at various tasks in work and life, getting everything done while you rest.
Said differently, without the jargon, it’s a general-purpose AI Agent capable of handling a wide variety of tasks in one’s personal and professional life. Below is a selection of use cases - some rudimentary, others exotic - that Manus claims to be able to perform today on its website.
Source: Manus.im
Sounds impressive, right? If we’re to believe what we’re being told, the AI Agent from Manus can handle everything from hedge fund analysis of Tesla stock to Professor-level course writing to booking international travel for executives.
But here’s the catch: It’s not clear Manus can actually do these things well.
Have we entered the era of fully Agentic AI? Not so fast.
In just a few hours of research, I’ve found not one, or two, or three, but over a half-dozen articles, videos, and Reddit threads where people talk about Manus being unable to back up many of the audacious claims it makes on its site. And then I put the platform to the test myself, and found the results largely to be a mixed bag.
The Secret Sauce
Manus claims to be the world's first general AI agent. First things first, there are already a wide-range of AI Agents currently in production at large enterprises. So while it could still emerge as “the best”, Manus AI is certainly not the “first”.
How does it work? The company uses multiple AI models (such as Claude 3.5 Sonnet and fine-tuned versions of Alibaba's open-source Qwen) to orchestrate a team of AI Agents that are able to act autonomously on a wide ange of tasks. While they are not the first to do this, the autonomous nature of the platform does make it different from AI Chatbots, including DeepSeek, which are designed for conversational interactions.
Personal Assistant vs. Force Multiplier: How AI Agents are Different
AI Chatbots: Collaborative tools designed to assist and work alongside you in a conversational manner
AI Agents: Autonomous tools designed to take on tasks independently while keeping you in the loop
Manus: Hype or Reality?
My personal belief is that Manus is mostly a marketing stunt to generate some hype. Although the promise of AI Agents is real, the company’s product is clearly not ready for primetime - yet.
Don’t get me wrong - at first glance, I was blown away by the YouTube videos from Manus - and those social media pundits and influencers. The company’s demos looked incredible, and it certainly seemed we were closer to AGI than ever. It’s absolutely deserving of a YouTube rabbit hole (dive in at your own risk below).
A few examples of what Manus claims it can do:
Campaign explanation maps that “bring historical events like the Battle of Lexington to Life” (yes, that’s a direct quote)
Financial statement review and verification
SEO optimization for your website
Realistic simulation a bacteria colony after reading the latest research on it
Create a video editor that can add effects to a video like wave, pixelate
Take a video of a lecture or a research paper and create detailed lecture notes with math and interactive simulations
3D simulation of a futuristic city with traffic, buildings, weather, time
Create a candidate interview schedule for 40 candidates to maximize time efficiency based on availability
Conclusion: Manus is not DeepSeek 2.0
If you’re like me, you likely noticed the proliferation of articles recently that claimed things such as “Manus Changes Everything”, “fundamental breakthrough,” and “paradigm shift”. These themes largely aligned with the prevailing market narrative after Manus’ initial release. Color me skeptical.
Why do I believe this? Three main reasons:
Technical Problems - The company’s release video make it look like Manus has perfected general-purpose Agentic AI. But when you take these AI Agents for a spin, you’ll see they come with many glitches, often are unable to complete tasks, and are prone to delivering results of marginal value.
Little of Transparency — Manus claims to outperform OpenAI’s Deep Research agent, but I had a hard time finding hard proof. Until the company releases independent benchmarks, raw performance results, and evidence of real-world testing, it’s hard to take the company’s claims seriously.
Manus may just be a Claude Wrapper - As noted by many X users as well as Techcrunch, Manus leverages many popular LLMs under the hood, such as Claude. It’s unclear what features, if any, are truly proprietary and “gamechanging” vs. nicely repackaged ones from other popular AI companies.
Here’s the Truth: Manus isn’t China’s Second DeepSeek Moment. And that’s okay.
So, why did Manus blow up on the Internet?
A few factors contributed:
Exclusivity created by limited invites: The air of exclusivity saw folks, allegedly, selling invite codes for thousands of dollars on Chinese reseller app Xianyu. This created hype and immense anticipation across China and felt all over the world.
Most People Believe What they See: The 2016 US Presidential Elections proved that the folks on the internet love to reshare articles without actually watching or validating them. We just can’t help ourselves - we see a buzzy headline and we have to share it. We’ve all done it - including yours truly.
Cherry-picked demos: Companies like to only show their greatest breakthroughs and “best hits”, and Manus is no different. But if Manus is as amazing as it claims, why not release raw performance data, and discuss its limitations honestly?
Disclaimer: The information contained in this article is not investment advice and should not be used as such. Investors should do their own due diligence before investing in any securities discussed in this article. While I strive for accuracy, I can’t guarantee the accuracy or reliability of all information. This article is based on my opinions and should be considered as such, not a point of fact. Views expressed in posts and other content linked on this site or posted to social media are my own and not the views of NextEra Energy Investments (NEI) or NextEra Energy (NEE: NYSE).
Nice article. For things out of China, it’s so hard to tell what’s real, and what’s not