Recently, China disrupted the AI market with DeepSeek, causing a decline in many tech companies and investments. And now, it’s happening again with an AI model claimed to surpass both ChatGPT and DeepSeek. Adding to the mystery, this AI is available by invitation only. “Manus”—as the model is called—feels like an exclusive underground club, with people scrambling to get in, some even reselling invitation codes for $10,000.
For those wondering, as mentioned before, Manus AI is China’s latest autonomous AI agent, designed to do way more than answer questions or generate content. Unlike traditional chat-based AI models like the ever-popular ChatGPT, Manus AI is built to plan, execute, and complete tasks entirely on its own—and by this, I mean no human babysitting is required. Whether it’s booking an entire vacation, coding an application from scratch, or managing complex business tasks, Manus was built to handle it all.
Manus was developed by a startup called Monica, the same company that previously created Monica AI, a browser extension that integrates multiple large AI models. This new AI, however, takes things to a whole new level. Led by Xiao Hong, a tech entrepreneur from Huazhong University of Science and Technology, the Manus team aimed to build an AI agent that doesn’t just generate responses—but takes real-world action. And reading this in the review process? It almost sounds like I’m a salesman, lol.
Manus functions through a three-agent system:
The Planning Agent which breaks down complex tasks into smaller steps, essentially acting as the AI’s “brain” to interpret prompts into smaller tasks it can take on.
The Execution Agent, which writes code, accesses APIs, and performs the necessary actions to get things done.
The Verification Agent: Ensures everything is accurate, refined, and polished before delivering results.
This setup means that Manus isn’t just an assistant like how other AI agents like ChatGPT identify themselves, but rather a kind of autonomous digital worker capable of handling entire workflows from start to finish.
How Does Manus Compare to ChatGPT and DeepSeek?
If DeepSeek was a warning shot, Manus is a full-on declaration of war in the AI industry.
Against ChatGPT: While ChatGPT is great for generating text-based content and answering queries, it still requires users to manually act on its outputs—refining prompts via what we call prompt engineering, editing here and there to get a usable piece of work. Manus, on the other hand, can execute and manage entire projects on its own…well, at least that’s what it’s supposed to deliver.
Against DeepSeek:
DeepSeek made headlines as China’s answer to OpenAI’s GPT models, excelling in reasoning and problem-solving. But Manus takes things further by not just processing information but acting on it autonomously.
Performance-wise, Manus has reportedly scored 86.5% on the GAIA benchmark, a gold-standard test for AI assistants. In comparison, OpenAI’s DeepResearch scored 67.9%, and Claude’s Computer Use scored a mere 15%. That’s a huge leap in AI capabilities by numbers alone.
However, here’s where things get a little annoying for enthusiastic internet users like myself—Manus isn’t available to the general public. Unlike ChatGPT or DeepSeek, which have open access models, Manus is invite-only, in that you either need an invite from someone already in the system, or you’ll have to buy access codes—yes, buy them—from people reselling them.
Access codes for Manus have come up on resale platforms like Goofish, Xianyu, and even eBay, with some selling for just a few yuan, while others have gone for over $1,000. People are literally paying premium prices just to get their hands on this AI and here I am cancelling my free trials.
But if you’re lucky enough to get access, here’s what you can do with it:
Plan and book vacations: It can handle everything from flights and hotels to creating a full travel itinerary.
Write, debug, and deploy code: Developers can use it to automate large chunks of their work, unlike the bite-sized prompts they have been using with other models.
Analyse data and generate reports: Need a detailed stock market analysis? Manus can generate one for you.
Automate business processes: From invoice processing to comparing insurance policies, it can streamline operations.
Create educational courses: It can build entire online learning modules custom to specific learning goals and many more, depending on your imagination and desire to test the model’s capability.
With its invite-only access, great automation, and growing black-market resale value, Manus has just made itself the AI everyone wants but not everyone can have, and I am mentioning this as a victim. Whether it lives up to the hype remains to be seen, but I think it’s pretty clear now that China is playing for keeps in the AI war, and Manus is its latest, most powerful weapon so far. The development of Manus, despite U.S. imposed AI chip sanctions, demonstrates their potential for further advancements.
That said, do you think you can be one of the lucky ones to gain access, or will you just be another spectator watching out for this China-USA AI war? Well, from a spectator’s point of view, only time can tell what innovations this will bear.
