Meta buys China-founded AI agent Manus

SINGAPORE, Singapore — Facebook owner Meta has agreed to acquire Manus, an artificial intelligence agent created by a company founded in China but now based in Singapore, the two firms said.

However, analysts warned the deal could fall foul of regulators at a time of fierce technological rivalry between Washington and Beijing.

Exceeding the capabilities of AI chatbots like ChatGPT, AI agents can autonomously perform complex tasks for users, and are seen as having huge potential.

Manus, created by startup Butterfly Effect, can for example sift through and summarise resumes or create a stock analysis website, according to its website.

Meta said Monday that the deal -- the financial details of which were not disclosed -- will "bring a leading agent to billions of people and unlock opportunities for businesses across our products".

"The era of AI that doesn't just talk, but acts, creates, and delivers, is only beginning," Manus chief executive Xiao Hong said on X.

"And now (with Meta), we get to build it at a scale we never could have imagined."

Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg is making a huge push into AI, spending billions of dollars on acquisitions, hiring engineers and building data centres.

Bloomberg Intelligence analysts said the purchase is likely aimed at expanding Meta's AI agent task capabilities, and that it could be worth more than $2 billion.

However, "it could draw regulatory scrutiny given that Singapore-based Manus was founded in China", the analysts said.