03/15/2025
China AI is really leading the way. Manus.im is the latest. You have to apply for access if you don't have an invite code. (Which I didn't have.) I got approved Thursday morning. What makes it unique is it does deep research (currently for free) on a variety of topics. You can "see it work" and share the research if you like where they can see it "replay". (I should have realized this, but (obviously now) it takes longer to do the actual research than it appears to when it "replays.") The phrase "AI agent" gets thrown around A LOT, but that is a term for this too. (I'm going to be making very different agents accessing multiple AI APIs that work together for a series of projects using LangChain/LangGraph/Python.)
Now what I won't do with any AI is put any personal information or client code or code I would write. But for research it's fine. (I also haven't put a credit card on file with either Deep Seek or Manus.im.) For API access to Deep Seek I'm using Open Router which gives me access to many models from many providers using the same code; I just change the line of the model I want to use. I also keep my usual Gemini and ChatGPT monthly plans, but for API access I have funded API for OpenAI as well.
So I'm using Python more than I ever have in my life. But unlike PHP you can't just upload Python code to a server and expect it to run without "hoops". So I'm writing code in Python to upload it to my PHP program to put into a database so I'm not having to copy and paste my prompts and responses from the APIs. I already know a lot of the answers to the differences but I'm putting into Manus to see what it has to say. You can see the results at: https://manus.im/share/BVstUFCqRbOIXni0wPnapT?replay=1
Before I got approved a thread on X was asking for tasks to research and then they ran them and shared the results back with the people. (That's what got me hooked...that replay. :-) https://x.com/manusai_hq is their page on X. You can also see other Use Cases at their website https://manus.im/ (When you share, you have the option of asking it to be displayed on their page which I don't want.) There is a video floating around claiming to show 50 screens doing research and that is fake or not Manus at least. And someone has taken the code and made it into Open Source, but in my preliminary research it's pretty complicated at first glance to get running and I'm not sure if how powerful my computer is would be a factor or if there is a host option. Right now I'm staying focused on my multi-agent project(s) but I did want to point out that it exists.
Manus is a general AI agent that turns your thoughts into actions. It excels at various tasks in work and life, getting everything done while you rest.
