Beijing Supports AI Startup Manus as China Seeks Its Next DeepSeek

Photo : Reuters

Chinese AI startup Manus is getting a lot of attention as it moves ahead with its AI agent. This AI can make decisions and do tasks on its own with less help from people, unlike popular chatbots like ChatGPT and DeepSeek. Recently, Manus launched its AI assistant for the Chinese market and got featured on state media for the first time, showing that Beijing is backing the company.

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On Tuesday, China’s main TV channel CCTV showed a report about Manus. The program explained how Manus’ AI agent is different from DeepSeek’s chatbot. This is a big step for Manus, as government media coverage often means strong support from the Chinese government.

The comes at a time when China is pushing to promote its own AI companies. This started after DeepSeek impressed the tech world by creating AI models as good as US companies but at a much lower cost. Many investors now see Manus as the next big Chinese AI firm.

A few weeks ago, Manus became popular online when it introduced what it called the world’s first general AI agent. Unlike regular AI chatbots that need constant instructions, Manus' AI can work by itself. It makes decisions and completes tasks without needing much human input.

On the same day as the CCTV report, Beijing’s local government announced that Manus' older product, an AI assistant named Monica, had received the needed registration to launch in China. This is important because China has strict rules for AI apps to prevent them from creating harmful or banned content.

To grow further, Manus recently teamed up with Alibaba’s Qwen AI model team. This partnership is expected to speed up the release of Manus' AI agent across China. Right now, the AI agent is only available to people with invite codes. Manus says it already has 2 million people on its waiting list.

With rising government support, key partnerships, and a growing user base, Manus is quickly becoming a big name in China’s AI industry.