A new artificial intelligence (AI) agent called Manus tackles hard real-world jobs, South China Morning Post reports (unpaywalled copy).

The agent stays private for now, offering access only to invited users through a web preview. It shows off its skills in a video on its website, manus.im. The video proves Manus can make a website step by step.

“Manus, derived from the Latin word for ‘hand’, is a general AI agent that turns your thoughts into actions,” reads the manus.im website.

The website brags about other cool tricks. It plans trips to places like Japan, and studies Tesla’s stock in detail. It builds courses for teachers. Manus compares insurance plans, and even helps businesses find suppliers. These jobs show Manus handles big tasks well. Its makers say Manus beats OpenAI’s Deep Research. They measure this with the GAIA benchmark.

People love the Manus demo video. It hit X on a Wednesday night. By Thursday noon, over 200,000 folks watched it. Many left comments begging for invite codes. This buzz reminds some of DeepSeek, another Chinese AI that got big fast. Manus keeps quiet about its makers and tech details, though. That mystery fuels the hype.

An AI agent that thinks, plans, and executes tasks independently

The makers of Manus see it as a game-changer. General-purpose AI agents like it interact with the world, gathering info and finishing tasks to meet goals. This style could shape AI’s future.

A Forbes article comments that Manus “changes everything.” Manus “represents something entirely different – it is not just another model. It is an agent, an AI system that thinks, plans, and executes tasks independently, capable of navigating the real world as seamlessly as a human intern with an unlimited attention span.”

In other AI news from China, Alibaba unveiled its latest artificial intelligence reasoning model, CNN reports. According to Alibaba, its capabilities beat those of rival models from OpenAI and startup DeepSeek. CNN also notes that the release of Alibaba’s new AI model comes a day after the launch of Manus.

Let us know your thoughts! Sign up for a Mindplex account now, join our Telegram, or follow us on Twitter.