Manus, an AI agent released by Chinese start-up Monica Photo: VCG

Chinese start-up Monica has lately released an artificial intelligence (AI) agent called Manus, instantly attracting widespread media and public attention, with some media outlets asking if this would be "another DeepSeek moment," in a nod to the rapid rise of the Chinese AI start-up.  

Manus went viral online within just about 20 hours of its preview launch on  Wednesday. Manus is reportedly the world's first truly general AI agent. Examples showcased on the official website demonstrate its ability to independently think, plan, and execute complex tasks, delivering complete results, CCTV.com reported on Thursday.

According to the company's official website, "Manus is a general AI agent that bridges minds and actions: it doesn't just think, it delivers results. Manus excels at various tasks in work and life, getting everything done while you rest."

The AI agent has a wide range of applications, from creating a custom guidebook for a trip to deeply analyzing Tesla's stock, per the company.
According to the team, on GAIA, a benchmark for evaluating General AI Assistants on solving real-world problems, Manus achieved new state-of-the-art performances across all three difficulty levels. Manus was evaluated using the same configuration as its production version for reproducibility.   

According to the team, Manus achieved SOTA (State-of-the-Art) results in the GAIA benchmark test, demonstrating performance that surpasses OpenAI's models of the same level.

The name "Manus" comes from the famous motto "Mens et Manus," "Mind and Hand" in English. It embodies the belief that knowledge must be applied to make a meaningful impact on the world.

On X, formerly Twitter, a video introducing Manus was viewed more than 370,000 times just 20 hours after being posted. Ji Yichao, co-founder and chief scientist of Manus AI, stated in a video on X that "for the past year, we've been quietly building what we believe is the next evolution in AI, and today we're launching an early preview of Manus, the first general AI agent. This isn't just another chatbot or workflow... it's a truly autonomous agent that bridges the gap between conception and execution."

"We see it as the next paradigm of human-machine collaboration, and potentially a glimpse into AGI," Ji said.

Currently, access to the application is limited, and users need an invitation code to use it. Many users are flocking to a domestic secondhand marketplace platform, seeking invitation codes, but sellers are scarce. Prices for these codes range wildly from 999 yuan ($137) to 50,000 yuan ($6,900) on the platform, with some sellers explicitly refusing to negotiate, citing the code's extreme scarcity, CCTV.com reported.  

On Thursday afternoon, Zhang Tao, a partner at Manus AI, responded in a post, explaining that the invitation system was necessary due to limited server capacity. He added that the team had been working overnight to address the issue and hoped to allow more users on the waitlist to experience Manus soon.

Zhang also urged the public to be more understanding and supportive of a start-up with only a few dozen team members. He reassured users that the team was working at full capacity to deliver a better product as soon as possible.

The founding team of Monica includes Xiao Hong, a serial entrepreneur and 2015 graduate of Huazhong University of Science and Technology, the South China Morning Post reported.

Discussions about Manus and its developer have trended on Weibo, with the topic of "Manus' founder being a post-90s Chinese entrepreneur" garnering over 27.8 million reads and 5,800 comments as of press time.