Tech large Meta buys Chinese-founded AI agency Manus | Enterprise and Financial system Information

Meta says ‘autonomous’ AI agent will assist enhance the lives of billions following uncommon deal amid US-China tech rivalry.

Tech large Meta has introduced it is going to purchase synthetic intelligence startup Manus in a uncommon crossover of US and Chinese know-how amid Washington and Beijing’s heated tech rivalry.

Meta stated the acquisition would see it take over the operation of Manus’s self-directing AI agent and combine the know-how into its personal merchandise.

Manus, which was based in China in 2022 however relocated to Singapore earlier this yr, payments its agent as a “virtual colleague” able to “planning, executing, and delivering complete work products from start to finish”.

Meta, the mother or father firm of Facebook and Instagram, stated the deal would convey one of many “leading autonomous general-purpose agents” to billions of individuals worldwide.

“Manus’s exceptional talent will join Meta’s team to deliver general-purpose agents across our consumer and business products, including in Meta AI,” the California-based agency stated in a press release on Monday.

“We’re excited to welcome the Manus team and help improve the lives of billions of people and millions of businesses with their technology.”

Manus founder and CEO Xiao Hong hailed the deal as a retort to sceptics of autonomous AI.

“We were told it was too early, too ambitious, too hard. But we kept building. Through the doubts, the setbacks, and the countless nights wondering if we were chasing the impossible. We weren’t,” Xiao stated on social media.

“The era of AI that doesn’t just talk, but acts, creates, and delivers, is only beginning,” Xiao added.

“And now, we get to build it at a scale we never could have imagined.”

The monetary phrases of the deal weren’t disclosed.

Manus, which claims to have created greater than 80 million digital computer systems, generated main buzz in tech circles nearly instantly following its launch in March, drawing comparisons to the frenzy that surrounded the arrival of the Chinese-developed chatbot DeepSeek.

Tech analysts have provided blended assessments of Manus’s agent, whose capabilities embrace having the ability to create journey itineraries and analyse shares with minimal human intervention.

Manus earlier this month introduced that its annual recurring income had surpassed $100m, claiming to be the quickest startup in historical past to realize the milestone.