Meta, the social media giant behind Facebook, has signed a deal to buy Manus, an advanced artificial intelligence agent originally developed by a China-founded startup now headquartered in Singapore.
While the move promises to push AI technology forward, industry experts caution that regulators might step in, especially given the current tensions between the US and China over tech dominance.
Unlike popular AI chatbots such as ChatGPT, AI agents like Manus can do much more: they handle complicated tasks on their own, opening up huge possibilities for users. According to its creators, Manus is already capable of sorting and summarizing resumes or even building a stock analysis website.
Meta announced on Monday that the deal, whose financial details remain under wraps, will “bring a leading agent to billions of people and unlock opportunities for businesses across our products.”
Xiao Hong, CEO of Manus, expressed excitement over the partnership, saying, “The era of AI that doesn’t just talk, but acts, creates, and delivers, is only beginning. And now, with Meta, we get to build it at a scale we never could have imagined.”
The deal is a part of Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s ambitious AI push, with billions being invested in new hires, acquisitions, and cutting-edge data centers.
Bloomberg Intelligence analysts believe that Meta’s main goal is to boost its AI agent’s task capabilities, and they estimate the deal could be worth over $2 billion. Still, the analysts warned, the transaction may spark regulatory concerns since Manus, though now based in Singapore, was founded in China.
