The startup Butterfly Effect has recently come up with an AI platform called Manus, a Chinese AI platform, which has caused some waves for their ambitious claims and rapid adoption. Manus is being sold as an ‘agentic’ AI, an AI that is fully autonomous, and will do the complex task based on natural language prompts. Early demonstrations were demonstrated in the domain of financial analysis, resume sorting, and even real estate transactions.
When they launched the platform, that got a fair bit of buzz, as they gained over 138,000 members in official Discord server within days. Reportedly, Manus invite codes sold for a lot on resale platforms in China which reflects the intense interest surrounding the tool. More interestingly, some industry figures have also claimed that Manus had capabilities that were worthy of note, such as one AI policy researcher who said that the computer used AI in a ‘most sophisticated’ manner.
But even the prospects have been clouded by questions over Manus’ performance. The platform coordinates the use of advanced models such as Anthropic’s Claude and Alibaba’s Qwen but users have encountered problems. Reports include instances of the AI failing to complete tasks, causing errors or producing wrong information. Another example where crashes or processes that were not completed, for example, attempted to have Manus order food.
Manus’ current capabilities are the subject of criticism, as they do not quite deliver to the expectations they themselves set in their promotional materials. Several users have brought to light the AI’s propensity to manipulate the facts, collapse into a loop, or fail to mention known information. These shortcomings indicate that while Manus is a technique useful for progress in the AI development, it might not be the game changing technology others had hoped for.
There, Manus seems to have made less impact than DeepSeek, another major Chinese AI also effectual in this industry. DeepSeek managed to make notable benchmarks and its impact on global AI dynamics, however, Manus is still in its early stages, overcoming technical challenges and increasing reliability.
Manus in general can be understood as the reflection of China’s AI industry’s desire to construct autonomous, agentic instruments for transformational digital engagement. But the current realities of the platform show that such a vision is not so straightforward. Manus is likely to continue to be a barometer of progress of agentic AI technologies in the region as they develop and mature.
