Meta has agreed to acquire Manus, a Chinese-founded AI startup now based in Singapore, in a deal pitched as a boost to Meta’s push for more advanced, agent-like AI features across its products.
Manus grabbed attention earlier this year after going viral for claiming it had built a “general AI agent” — software that can make decisions and execute tasks with far less hand-holding than a typical chatbot. That “agent” framing matters because the AI race is shifting: it’s no longer just about answering questions, it’s about taking actions—booking, sorting, drafting, scheduling, negotiating, and doing multi-step work inside everyday apps.
Why Meta wants it
Meta’s incentive is obvious: agents fit neatly into where Meta has scale.
- Meta AI gets smarter, more “do things for you,” less “here’s a paragraph.”
- WhatsApp for small businesses becomes a natural proving ground: agents that handle customer chats, product questions, order updates, and support—automatically and at scale.
- The acquisition is also a talent-and-tech shortcut in a brutally competitive market where “build it all in-house” can be too slow.
The geopolitics angle isn’t optional anymore
Manus is described as Chinese-founded, but its headquarters moved to Singapore and its products aren’t available in China—details that highlight how AI companies are increasingly reorganizing to reduce exposure to U.S.–China tensions. In 2025, where a company is based and how it’s structured can be as strategic as the model itself.
Bottom line
Meta isn’t buying a cute chatbot. It’s buying an agent story—tools that act, not just talk—and plugging it into platforms with billions of users and massive business messaging footprint. If “AI agents” are the next interface layer, Meta just spent to make sure it owns more of that future.
