Chinese artificial intelligence agent Manus has opened user registration and awards early adopters with credits, targeting retail clients.
Manus AI – which gained attention in March after unveiling a general-purpose AI agent capable of handling tasks like stock analysis – once only allowed registration by invitation. An invitation code of Manus at one point was priced as high as 100,000 yuan (HK$108,000) in the secondary market.
Now, new users can register via email for free and without joining a waiting list or needing an invitation. Manus has also offered early registrations with a one-off bonus of 1,000 credits and 300 credits per day for one task.
In previous tests, a piece of an article involving thousands of Chinese characters consumed about 200 credits.
The AI agent also has launched some monthly plans with charges between US$19 (HK$148.20) and US$199, in a bid to commercialize its product.
After the burst of open-source AI large language model DeepSeek, tech giants including OpenAI, Alibaba (9988) and Tencent (0700) lowered their charges or opened their tools to seize market share and more data and feedback from an even wider user base, when the AI firms are still exploring ways to commercialize the advanced technology.
Butterfly Effect, the company behind Manus, recently raised US$75 million on a US$500 million valuation from US venture capital firm Benchmark. But the deal was reportedly under review by the US Treasury Department, citing its compliance about investing in Chinese companies.
THEMIS QI
