"Who has a Manus invite code? Please!" "I've been queuing since last night to get into Manus, and I'm still not in!" Overnight, the AI community exploded again. Some industry insiders even pulled an all-nighter, diving deep into this out-of-nowhere AI Agent product.
Manus Chief Scientist Peak
Source: Manus Official Website
How impressive is Manus? Simply put, while DeepSeek and OpenAI have excelled at answering questions, Manus goes further—it thinks independently, plans systematically, executes tasks autonomously, and delivers final results. It can screen resumes for a company and rank candidates based on qualifications and fit; create PPTs for teachers, effortlessly handling complex concepts like the momentum theorem; devise sales-boosting strategies for shops or identify potential clients for businesses; and even assist with picking real estate, planning trips, designing business cards, or taking class notes. It's being called an "all-purpose AI butler."
One commenter nailed it: "Manus takes AI beyond Q&A—it's actually doing things for humans." In this era, surprises just keep coming, one after another.
The enthusiasm has been so overwhelming that, during its beta phase, Manus invite codes became nearly impossible to snag, and the official website crashed under the traffic. We're left piecing together its prowess from intro videos and text on the site. Take resume screening, for example:
Upload a zip file, and Manus unzips it, scans each resume page-by-page, and logs key details. You can keep uploading files or tweaking instructions mid-process—even shut off your computer—and Manus will finish the job and deliver results.
Source: Manus Official Website
The output? Not just a ranked list—it categorizes candidates by experience and other key factors, tailoring reports to your preference (tables or text) and remembering your style for next time. Fat Whale's take: Manus undeniably saves manpower on hard resume metrics. But talent selection goes beyond resumes—soft skills matter too. Perhaps future iterations, whether Manus or others, could assess personality and potential, making things even more intriguing.
Then there's real estate shopping. The prompt: buy a property in New York—safe neighborhood, low crime rate, top-tier K-12 schools, with a set budget. Manus breaks this complex task into a to-do list: research safe areas, identify quality schools, calculate affordability, and hunt for listings. It scours the web, poring over articles on NYC's safest neighborhoods to gather data.
Source: Manus Official Website
Next, it writes a Python script to compute an affordable budget based on your income, cross-references real estate sites, and filters properties within range. The final report? A detailed breakdown—neighborhood safety analysis, school quality rundown, budget breakdown, and a curated list of properties with links and prices.
Source: Manus Official Website
Throughout, Manus acts like a meticulous real estate agent, weighing all angles from the user's perspective with zero fluff—just rational advice that slashes decision-making time.
For businesses, Manus shines too. It can analyze local consumer spending around a store to craft targeted sales strategies or pinpoint potential B2B clients based on target profiles—essentially a behind-the-scenes "profit-making marketing assistant." The website showcases over a dozen use cases: personalized travel itineraries, insurance policy comparisons, supplier sourcing, financial statement analysis, e-commerce optimization, and even designing a web game in minutes.
Source: Manus Official Website
"Manus is a beast," one insider remarked, stunned at how fast this day arrived. The data backs up the hype: per the official site, Manus has outdone OpenAI's DeepResearch on the GAIA benchmark (testing real-world problem-solving for general AI assistants), setting three new state-of-the-art records to claim the top spot. It's a defining product for what's being dubbed "Year One of AI Agents," pushing human exploration of AI to new heights.
Once again, it's a crew of young Chinese AI entrepreneurs shaking up the global scene. Manus hails from Monica.im, a large-model company led by founder Xiao Hong (nicknamed "Red"), born in 1992 and a software engineering grad from Huazhong University of Science and Technology.
Source: ZhenFund
Post-graduation, Xiao tried his hand at startups—anonymous social platforms and second-hand marketplaces—both flops. In 2015, he spotted the untapped potential of WeChat public accounts and pivoted to build editing and analytics tools, founding Nightingale Technology. His products, Yiban Assistant and Weiban Assistant, won gold at WeChat's Central China Innovation Contest, securing investments from Tencent and ZhenFund. From there, his entrepreneurial path smoothed out. The tools gained industry acclaim, serving over 2 million B2B users, and in 2020, he sold the company to a unicorn firm, cashing out with his team. This stint put Xiao on the map and bankrolled his next venture.
In 2022, the large-model wave hit, reigniting Xiao's startup fire. Teaming up with Chief Scientist Peak and other talents, he launched Monica (cue butterfly effect). From day one, Xiao set a clear vision: build innovative, practical AI products. Monica started as an "integrator." ChatGPT had just debuted, excelling in dialogue but limited in scope, while Google dominated search with its massive user base and data. Xiao saw the synergy and launched ChatGPT for Google—an instant hit that nailed the cold start.
Monica kept integrating, plugging in GPT-4o, Claude 3, Gemini Pro 1.5, Llama 3 70B, DeepSeek, and more, letting users pick models to suit their needs. Building on these pro models, Monica dipped into DIY bots, mini-program creation via Artifacts, writing, translation, and art—early AI applications that won over users. By 2024, it hit 10 million users while staying profitable. Standing on giants' shoulders and exploring AI use cases seemed to be Monica's calling.
In an earlier media interview, Xiao said, "Products can't just be chatbots—Agents are the next form, needing a new vessel." Enter Manus. Its breakout success proves the adage: "AI only has value when it serves humans; perfect integration is the win." Now, Manus' use cases elevate AI exploration another notch—from basic Q&A to tangible outcomes and problem-solving. It feels like AI is genuinely stepping into our daily lives and work. The full-on AI era inches closer.
Reflecting on DeepSeek's shockwave earlier this year, led by Hangzhou's young Liang Wenfeng, Manus now drops another bombshell on the AI and global tech scenes. AI-driven transformation is captivating the world, and Chinese tech entrepreneurs are penning its most thrilling chapters. Xiao offers a surfer's mindset amid the waves: "The world doesn't extrapolate linearly—you've got to make yourself a key variable in the game."
We're lucky to live in this era, witnessing tech milestones unfold. Dubbed "Year One of AI Agents," Manus fires the opening shot—but it won't be the last. More AI applications will bloom, finding their place across industries. Yet, alongside this, "AI threat" and "AI will surpass humans" rhetoric is heating up. Fat Whale's view: only by understanding, mastering, and applying AI can we harness it, conquer fears, and wield it confidently.
To wrap up, here's Xiao quoting Shakespeare: "The world's ups and downs are like waves. Ride the high tide forward, and success is yours; miss the moment, and you'll stumble through life with nothing to show."