China's Manus releases the world's first autonomous general AI agent

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By Matthew Griffin Intelligence and the Senses 22nd March 2025

WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF

Increasingly out technology is moving from automated to autonomous, but Manus isn’t the first …

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Artificial Intelligence (AI) researchers in China claim to have made a major breakthrough after developing the “world’s first fully autonomous AI agent,” although that honour could also tentatively be given to AutoGPT and Devin, two autonomous Agentic AI software developers I talked about a long time ago …

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Named Manus, the general-purpose AI is capable of carrying out a vast range of tasks, including buying property, booking holidays and developing video games.

Built by Chinese firm Butterfly Effect, Manus is also reportedly capable of outperforming the most advanced AI models from ChatGPT creator OpenAI.

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“[Manus] is the next evolution in AI,” Yichao Ji, co-founder and chief scientist of Manus AI, said in a video demonstrating the AI’s abilities. “This isn’t just another chatbot or workflow, it’s a truly autonomous agent that bridges the gap between conception and execution. Where other AI stops at generating ideas, Manus delivers results.

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“We see it as the next paradigm of human-machine collaboration, and potentially a glimpse into Artificial General Intelligence (AGI).”

See Manus in action.

The AI has drawn praise from tech industry figures, with AI policy researcher Dean Ball calling it the “most sophisticated computer using AI.”

Victor Mustar, head of product at AI platform Hugging Face, who’s community is trying to reverse engineer the last Chinese AI breakthrough DeepSeek R1, described Manus as “mind-blowing” in its capabilities.

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“Got access and it’s true… Manus is the most impressive AI tool I’ve ever tried,” he wrote on X. “The user experience is what so many others promised… but this time it just works.”

The AI is not yet widely available, with hopeful users requiring an invite code from existing users to gain access.

A viral video demo of the technology has added to the hype surrounding Manus, leading to invitation codes reportedly selling for thousands of pounds on Chinese marketplace Xianyu. While some have feared that its abilities could pose a significant threat to human workers, others who have tested it claim that it still has significant flaws that need to be addressed before a wider roll out.

Some early users complained about errors with Manus, such as making mistakes about factual information and not providing complete answers to questions.

Matthew Griffin / About Author

Described by NASA as a "Walking Encyclopaedia of the Future" and one of the world’s most in demand keynote speakers Matthew Griffin, Founder and Futurist in Chief of the 311 Institute, a global Futures and Deep Futures advisory firm, is a multi-award winning Futurist and strategic foresight expert, author, lecturer, mentor, podcast and YouTube host.

With a distinguished career running global business units at Atos, EMC, and IBM today Matthew helps leaders and titans of industry from all over the world explore the impact of the inter sections of technology, culture, and leadership, then helps them create high performance organisations that can continuously disrupt, outpace, and outthink their competition.

15 times author of the hit series the Codex of the Future series Matthew's ability to identify, track, and explain the impacts of hundreds of emerging technologies and trends on global business, culture, and society has earned him a powerful reputation and a roster of clients that include royal households, world leaders across the G7, G20, and G77, and many of the world's most recognised and exceptional organisations including ABB, Accenture, ABN Amro, Adidas, AON, ARM, BCG, Centrica, Citi Group, Coca Cola, Deloitte, Dentons, Disney, Dow, EY, Google, KPMG, Lego, Microsoft, Legal & General, LinkedIn, Nokia, Paramount, PepsiCo, PWC, Qualcomm, RWE, Samsung, T-Mobile, UBS, Visa, WIRED, WPP and hundreds of others.

Matthew is regularly featured in the global media including the AP, BBC, Bloomberg, CNBC, Discovery, Forbes, Khaleej Times, Telegraph, TIME, ViacomCBS, WIRED, and the WSJ, and his mission is to help organisations create a fair and sustainable future whose benefits are shared by everyone irrespective of their ability, background, or circumstances.