Manus AI - First Autonomous AI Agent?
China Launches Manus: The First Truly Autonomous AI Agent That Can Manage Other Agents
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Just two months ago, China introduced DeepSeek, an artificial intelligence agent that amazed the world by achieving groundbreaking results with minimal computing power and significantly lower development costs compared to existing platforms. Now, China has unveiled another AI marvel: Manus, the world’s first truly autonomous AI agent.
Unlike traditional AI agents that require human prompts or instructions to initiate actions, Manus operates independently, making proactive decisions and managing complex tasks without constant human intervention. This breakthrough places China not only on par with industry leaders but also potentially ahead of them.
Fully Autonomous Decision-Making
Traditional AI agents require a prompt—a request, question, or instruction from a human—to begin processing and taking action. In contrast, Manus can work entirely on its own, anticipating what needs to be done and acting accordingly.
For example, if Manus were assigned as a human resources manager, it could:
- Initiate job postings
- Publish them on recruitment platforms
- Collect and analyze incoming resumes
- Select the best candidates
- Schedule interviews automatically
- Even make hiring decisions—all without human input at every step.
Multitasking & Background Processing
Manus is capable of handling multiple tasks simultaneously. If a process requires waiting times—such as receiving responses from candidates—it can run tasks in the background while focusing on other priorities, resuming them when needed.
Unlike conventional AI models that specialize in narrow domains (e.g., image generation, mathematical analysis, or data interpretation), Manus acts as a meta-manager, orchestrating multiple specialized AI agents to achieve its objectives efficiently. This capability makes Manus exceptionally powerful, as it can:
- Assign tasks to the best-suited AI agents
- Aggregate specialized outputs into a coherent result
- Ensure optimal task execution without human supervision
The Road to AGI: Artificial General Intelligence
Manus is seen as a significant step toward AGI (Artificial General Intelligence)—an AI system capable of:
- Handling a wide range of tasks with deep expertise
- Understanding and applying general knowledge across disciplines
- Making autonomous decisions without requiring predefined instructions
This AI agent can create its own to-do lists, prioritize tasks, and notify users when results are ready—even if no one is actively monitoring its progress.
The Future of AI: Autonomous Robots with Manus-Like Capabilities
Currently, Manus is available only via invitation and operates online, but integrating this level of intelligence into physical humanoid robots would enable them to:
- Make fully autonomous decisions
- Take initiative instead of waiting for commands
- Function independently in real-world scenarios
This would mark a paradigm shift from robots that merely follow orders to ones that proactively assess, decide, and act on their own.
A New Turning Point in AI History
Many experts are calling Manus a milestone in AI development, comparable to the launch of Sputnik or the release of ChatGPT, both of which dramatically accelerated technological progress.
Who Created Manus?
Manus was developed by Monica, a Chinese AI startup co-founded by:
- Xiao Hong – A young graduate from the Huazhong University of Science and Technology
- Ji Yichao – Co-founder and Chief Scientist of Monica
As Manus continues to evolve, experts predict its impact will:
- Revolutionize AI applications across industries
- Redefine job automation with fully independent AI agents
- Accelerate AGI development beyond current capabilities
Manus represents a bold step into the future, and as its technology advances, it could soon reshape the way businesses, industries, and even entire economies function.