Facebook owner Meta has agreed to acquire Manus. Manus is an artificial intelligence (AI) agent. It was created by a company founded in China but now based in Singapore, the two firms said.
However, analysts warned the deal could encounter issues with regulators. This comes at a time of fierce technological rivalry between Washington and Beijing.
AI agents exceed the capabilities of AI chatbots like ChatGPT. They can autonomously perform complex tasks for users. AI agents are seen as having huge potential.
Manus was created by startup Butterfly Effect. It can, for example, sift through and summarise resumes. It can also create a stock analysis website. This information is according to its website.
Meta said on 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.
“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.
Discover more from News Network Plus
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.
