AI Agent Developer Manus Gains Support of Chinese Government

Chinese artificial intelligence (AI) startup Manus, which went viral on X a few weeks ago, is reportedly being promoted by the Chinese government.

Manus, which offers a general AI agent that it reportedly claims can make decisions and execute tasks with less prompting than its competitors require, was featured in a state media broadcast, Reuters reported Friday (March 21).

The television coverage signals that the Chinese government will support the rollout of Manus within the country, according to the report.

In addition, the Beijing municipal government announced Thursday (March 20) that a Chinese version of another Manus product, an AI assistant called Monica, completed the registration that China requires for generative AI apps, the report said.

The company’s AI agent is currently available by invitation only and has a waiting list of 2 million, per the report.

An AI agent is software that automates tasks but also acts like an adaptable knowledge worker, PYMNTS reported in January. AI agents can understand context, make decisions, adjust their approach based on changing circumstances and carry out actions on behalf of users.

Deloitte said Wednesday (March 19) that it unveiled a platform that offers a suite of AI agents that are ready to deploy and will perform business functions. The Zora AI by Deloitte portfolio currently includes functional agents for finance, and it will be expanded to include others for human capital, supply chain, procurement, sales and marketing, and customer service.

On March 11, OpenAI launched a new set of APIs and tools designed to help developers and enterprises build, deploy and scale AI agents. The company said that while it already offered AI model capabilities that can support AI agents, it added these new tools in response to customers’ calls for an easier way to turn these capabilities into AI agents.

It was reported March 4 that Amazon Web Services (AWS) formed a new group focused on agentic AI and that AWS CEO Matt Garman said the technology could be “the next multibillion business for AWS.”

“We have the opportunity to help our customers innovate even faster and unlock more possibilities, and I firmly believe that AI agents are core to this next wave of innovation,” Garman wrote in an internal email, according to a Reuters report.

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