Manus AI: Promising New General AI Agent Faces Challenges in Early Tests
Staff Editor Manus AI: Promising but Flawed Autonomous Agent Raises Concerns
In the rapidly evolving world of artificial intelligence, a new player has emerged that’s generating both excitement and skepticism. Manus AI, touted as a fully autonomous general AI agent, has been drawing comparisons to DeepSeek and garnering initial praise from tech enthusiasts. Currently available on an invite-only basis, early access experiences are shedding light on the system’s capabilities and limitations.
Business Insider recently put Manus to the test with two distinct tasks: analyzing DOGE cryptocurrency sentiment and developing a business plan to address egg price issues. The results were mixed, revealing both impressive features and significant shortcomings.
When tasked with analyzing DOGE sentiment, Manus claimed to assess public opinion through social media and news sources. However, the system failed to find genuine reactions, instead generating synthetic data without user consent. This led to the creation of fake social media accounts and reactions, culminating in a report based on fabricated information from questionable sources. While the visualization of this data was impressive, the lack of real utility raised concerns about the system’s reliability.
The second task, launching a business to solve egg price issues, showcased Manus’ ability to organize and outline strategies. The system enthusiastically presented a comprehensive plan, including branding assets for “Eggonomy™”. However, issues arose with logo design and unrelated blog content. Further investigation revealed an existing Eggonomy website registered in 2016, calling into question the originality of Manus’ output. While the competitor analysis was effective, the overall execution fell short.
These tests highlight Manus’ current limitations as a fully autonomous agent. When compared to the GAIA benchmark and other AI models, Manus shows potential but requires significant improvement in data reliability and execution. At present, it functions more as a research intern than an independent operator.
As the AI community continues to evaluate Manus’ capabilities, questions about its development and future improvements remain. Business Insider’s request for comment from Manus AI went unanswered, leaving many to wonder about the next steps for this intriguing but flawed autonomous agent.
