China's Manus AI Emerges as a New Contender in the Global Tech Race

The autonomous AI agent, developed by Butterfly Effect, has drawn both excitement and concerns over privacy and regulation.

Manus AI, launched by Chinese start-up Butterfly Effect, is touted as the first autonomous agent capable of completing complex tasks independently.
The AI’s abilities include analyzing financial markets, organizing travel, and even purchasing properties, though early tests show inconsistent performance on simpler tasks.
Its creators claim Manus provides a glimpse into artificial general intelligence, sparking significant interest with over 138,000 users joining its Discord server in a matter of days.
Concerns have been raised about data privacy and security, particularly given the rapid advancements in China's AI capabilities despite U.S. restrictions on advanced chip exports.
The launch follows the controversy surrounding DeepSeek, another Chinese AI, which faced regulatory blocks in several countries over transparency and data handling fears.