In late 2024, the world’s AI community turned its attention to China with the release of DeepSeek V3, an AI model rivaling OpenAI’s GPT-4. By early 2025, the launch of DeepSeek’s R1 reasoning model solidified China’s status as an AI superpower. Recently, China once again shocked the world. However, this time it was Manus, the world’s first fully autonomous AI agent.
A group of Chinese software engineers has developed Manus, an AI agent that carries out tasks with astonishing independence. Unlike AI models that require human prompts, Manus operates autonomously, completing complex tasks without user intervention. This marks a turning point in AI, raising urgent questions: What happens when AI stops asking for permission and starts making its own decisions?
What can Manus do?
Manus is not just another AI assistant but an autonomous AI system capable of analysing financial transactions, screening job candidates, drafting research papers, designing marketing campaigns, and even developing entire software applications. Unlike traditional AI, Manus does not rely on human oversight or prompts. Instead, it initiates, plans, and executes tasks entirely on its own, operating like a self-sufficient digital worker with unlimited focus.
While AI-powered tools are confined to narrow applications, Manus adapts across industries, seamlessly handling complex workflows. Given a dataset of resumes, for example, it doesn’t just rank candidates but also evaluates skills, cross-references them with market trends, and produces a comprehensive hiring decision. For instance, if asked about finding an apartment, it factors in crime statistics, rental trends, and user preferences before delivering a curated list of properties. Manus is a true general-purpose AI agent.
What makes Manus different from chatbots?
AI chatbots such as OpenAI’s ChatGPT and xAI’s Grok 3 respond to user inputs with well-structured answers. They remain reactive, waiting for commands before performing tasks. Manus, on the other hand, proactively completes entire projects. It does not require continuous human interaction. Instead, it autonomously executes workflows, making adjustments and refining its output without user guidance.
Moreover, Manus operates in a virtual computing environment in the cloud. Unlike OpenAI’s Operator, which performs actions through a user’s browser, Manus continues working even when a user’s device is turned off. It interacts with APIs, browses the web, fills out forms, and even troubleshoots technical issues independently. This makes Manus the first AI system to function like a self-sustaining digital worker.
Why Manus is a threat to Silicon Valley?
For years, AI innovation was dominated by Silicon Valley, with OpenAI, Google, and Meta leading the race. The assumption was that the most advanced chatbot would shape the future of AI. But Manus challenges that belief. It represents a shift from passive AI tools to active, self-directed intelligence.
Manus signals China’s dominance in AI autonomy, an area where Western companies have hesitated due to regulatory concerns. Silicon Valley’s AI giants are now racing to catch up, fearing that China’s head start in self-sufficient AI could lead to global competitive advantages in finance, logistics, research, and software development.
A threat to the human workforce
Manus is not just a disruptor but an existential threat to traditional employment. AI has long automated repetitive tasks, but Manus eliminates the need for human intervention. In industries where AI is an efficiency tool, Manus is a replacement.
Its ability to act independently means companies could automate decision-making roles, reducing reliance on human employees. Tasks that once required skilled professionals, such as legal analysis, marketing strategy, and financial auditing, can now be executed by an AI agent who never sleeps, never demands a salary, and never makes errors due to fatigue. For many professionals, the question is no longer how AI will assist them, but whether they will still have jobs at all.
Controversies around Manus
The AI assistant developed by a team of Chinese engineers faces doubts about its technological capabilities as only a few people were able to test the product. There was a shortage of server capacity after a surge in popularity. On Xianyu, China’s second-hand online marketplace, some vendors were selling Manus’ invitation codes.
“The current invite-only mechanism is due to genuinely limited server capacity at this stage,” Manus AI’s product partner Zhang Tao said in a social media post on Thursday afternoon. “The current version of Manus is still in its infancy, far from what we aim to deliver in our final product,” he added.
While its availability was limited, the firm’s account on social media X was also suspended. “Peak” Yichao Ji, co-founder and chief scientist of Manus, said the team was “actively working with X’s support team to resolve this matter”.
Our thoughts
The rise of Manus signals the beginning of a new AI era, one where intelligence is no longer a uniquely human trait. As businesses and governments scramble to adapt, the global workforce must prepare for a future where AI is not just a tool, but a competitor. The world is no longer just watching China’s AI progress, it is racing to keep up.
