Manus Is World's First AI Agent That Thinks Like A Human, China Claims
Meet Manus, an AI agent built by Chinese start-up Monica that can analyse CVs, property and stocks.
By Sukhbir Cheema — 10 Mar 2025, 03:09 PM
China's latest AI entrant, Manus, is making waves online, with some industry watchers drawing comparisons to DeepSeek's rapid rise earlier this year
Developed by start-up Monica, the AI agent has been described by Chinese state media as the world’s first general AI agent — an ambitious claim that has sparked both curiosity and scepticism.
Manus is positioned as more than just another AI chatbot.
It's an AI agent designed to independently plan, think, and execute tasks, from trip planning to stock analysis, without human intervention.
According to Monica, the AI has outperformed OpenAI’s models in GAIA, a benchmark for general AI assistants, across all levels of difficulty
The company envisions Manus as an AI that "bridges minds and actions", offering tangible results instead of just generating text-based responses
The unveiling of Manus has garnered significant attention, with a video introduction by co-founder Ji Yichao amassing hundreds of thousands of views on X (formerly Twitter) and YouTube within 20 hours.
Ji described Manus as the "next evolution in AI", suggesting that it marks a shift from generative AI, like ChatGPT, to truly general AI — a system capable of handling diverse tasks as seamlessly as a human.
For now, access to Manus remains exclusive, requiring an invitation code
The scarcity of these codes has even driven a resale market, with prices soaring from 999 yuan (RM606) to as high as 50,000 yuan (RM30,500) on secondhand platforms.
The AI landscape is becoming increasingly competitive, particularly in China, where DeepSeek's chatbot dominated the Apple Store charts in January.
With Manus now entering the fray, it's clear that the race to build the most advanced AI is far from over — and Monica is betting big on its vision of an AI that doesn't just think, but acts.
