Is China’s Overnight AI Sensation a Real Breakthrough or Just More Hype?
China’s tech community has been buzzing after the sudden rise of Manus, a new AI agent developed by the startup Butterfly Effect. Within just twenty-four hours of its launch, Manus became a nationwide sensation, dominating online conversations in the same way DeepSeek had earlier. Its unexpected popularity raised excitement, curiosity, and doubt all at once. While some believe Manus represents a new step in practical AI applications, others argue that its innovations are exaggerated. The debate reflects broader questions about what truly counts as a breakthrough in today’s crowded AI landscape.
Why Manus Went Viral So Quickly
Manus describes itself as the first general-purpose AI agent in China capable of autonomously breaking down and completing complicated tasks. Instead of simply providing text-based answers like traditional chatbots, Manus claims to go further by performing entire workflows. Examples shown in promotional videos include screening job applications, analyzing stocks, generating complete PowerPoint presentations, and making structured decisions. This ability to produce finished results rather than suggestions has attracted significant attention from users looking for more hands-on AI tools.
Its sudden rise was also shaped by its unique invitation code system. Access was tightly controlled, and the feeling of scarcity triggered a wave of demand. Invitation codes were resold on second hand markets for up to fifty thousand yuan, a price far above what most expected. At one point, the official website struggled to keep up with the traffic and crashed multiple times. All these factors combined to turn Manus into a viral phenomenon overnight.
Questions Emerge About Its Technology
Despite the excitement, Manus has faced strong criticism from the moment it went viral. The first major point of controversy concerns the originality of its underlying technology. Observers accused Manus of merely repackaging existing large language models, especially Anthropic’s Claude and Alibaba’s Qwen. According to critics, Manus did not develop its own base model but instead built layers on top of what others had already created. This raised questions about whether Manus truly represented innovation or simply a clever rebranding exercise.
User Experience Doesn’t Always Match the Hype
Another source of scepticism has come from early testers. Although promotional videos portrayed Manus as fast, efficient, and capable of running highly complex multi-step tasks, real-world experiences have been more mixed. Some users reported slow response times, repetitive outputs, and occasional hallucinations, issues that continue to affect many AI agents. These inconsistencies led some to argue that the platform is not yet reliable enough for serious professional use. For many, the gap between marketing and actual performance felt too wide to ignore.
Concerns Over Its Marketing Strategy
The third major criticism surrounds Manus’ promotional tactics. Many believe the company relied too heavily on social media hype and the viral nature of Chinese online culture rather than demonstrating true technological depth. Influencers and content creators played a major role in spreading Manus across the internet, often showcasing polished videos that were difficult to verify. Some demonstrations were accused of stitching together unrelated tools to appear more advanced than they really were. As a result, detractors argued that Manus’ rise was more about strategic marketing than genuine innovation.
A Step Forward Despite the Debate
Still, it would be unfair to dismiss Manus entirely. Even if its core technologies rely partly on existing models, its value may lie in integrating those capabilities into a more practical workflow system. Manus aims to reduce the friction between human intention and AI execution. Instead of prompting a model repeatedly, users can assign a task and let the system complete it step by step. In this sense, Manus offers a glimpse into future real world applications, where AI becomes more of an autonomous assistant rather than a text generator.
Reflecting a Larger Trend in China’s AI Ecosystem
The Manus debate has sparked a broader conversation about China’s rapidly growing AI industry. As Chinese start ups compete with global players, hype cycles are becoming more common. At the same time, innovation is happening quickly, and companies are experimenting with how far AI agents can go in real workflows. Manus may not be a perfect product today, but its popularity reveals strong public interest in AI tools that move beyond conversation and toward autonomous action.
Whether Manus becomes a long term success or fades as another short lived trend remains to be seen. For now, it stands as a reminder that in the world of AI, excitement and doubt often rise together, pushing both creators and users to question what true breakthroughs should look like.
