The end of a short affair: Why I am facing a dilemma after the Meta takeover of Manus
Like many others, we keep discovering new AI tools. Each one promises to be even better, faster, or smarter. After an intense phase of using Perplexity, we stumbled upon Manus sometime last year – an AI orchestrator that had the potential to fundamentally change how we work. Manus wasn’t just another AI tool. It was a promise. A promise of autonomy, of comprehensive task completion, of a new era of artificial intelligence. But this fascination was abruptly interrupted.
About three weeks ago, a newsletter from Manus landed in our inbox, proudly presenting impressive growth figures. Just a week later came the real bombshell: Manus now belongs to Meta. A quick search confirmed the unbelievable: after only nine months of live operation, the startup was swallowed by Mark Zuckerberg’s conglomerate for an estimated 2 to 2.5 billion US dollars. And suddenly we face a choice that goes far beyond a mere preference for a digital tool.
The short, steep rise of Manus
To understand our dilemma, you need to understand what made Manus so special. Founded by a trio of Chinese tech specialists – Xiao Hong, Ji Yichao, and Zhang Tao – Manus was more than just a chatbot. It was the self-proclaimed “world’s first fully autonomous general AI agent.” While tools like ChatGPT rely on step-by-step instructions, Manus could independently break down complex tasks into sub-steps, create a plan, and execute it in an isolated cloud environment. It could screen resumes, rank applicants, format data, and create stock analyses – all with minimal human interaction.
The numbers spoke for themselves: in just eight months after its launch in March 2025, Manus reached an annual recurring revenue (ARR) of 100 million US dollars. For comparison, the popular AI code editor Cursor needed 18 months to achieve that. Manus wasn’t just hype; it was a working business model that attracted professional users willing to pay for real efficiency gains.
AI Orchestration vs. Agentic AI: What Manus could really do
The secret behind Manus’s capabilities lies in the combination of two concepts that are often confused: Agentic AI and AI Orchestration.
Let’s imagine this in layers:
- The Language Model (LLM): At the very bottom sits the raw AI model like GPT-4 or Claude 3.5. It’s the brain that can think but cannot act.
- Agentic AI: This layer gives the brain a body. It allows the model to use tools (e.g., execute code, browse the internet), remember past actions, and autonomously pursue a goal over multiple steps.
- AI Orchestration: This is the infrastructure that manages an entire army of agents. It handles security (sandboxing), resource allocation, and the distribution of tasks to the right agent.
Manus was both: a powerful agent and a clever orchestrator.
Why Meta pays 2 billion for a 9-month-old startup
For Meta, Manus is the perfect addition. While Meta’s own Llama models are world-class brains, they lacked the body – the ability to act. Manus delivers exactly this “Action Engine.”
Mark Zuckerberg’s vision of a “personal superintelligence” requires more than just chatbots. He wants AI to act for us. Integrating Manus into WhatsApp, Instagram, and Facebook could enable these platforms to transition from passive content consumption to active task management.
Our dilemma: Convenience vs. conscience
Should we continue using this brilliant tool and thereby make Mark Zuckerberg even richer and more powerful? Or should we search for alternatives that might (not yet) be quite as good but are not part of a tech giant whose business model we view critically?
It’s the classic question between convenience and conscience. Meta will undoubtedly make Manus even more powerful. But the price for this is further centralization of power and data in the hands of a single corporation.
A call to the community
This story is more than just a personal anecdote. It is emblematic of the development of the internet and AI. We stand at a crossroads. Will we choose a few, extremely powerful but closed ecosystems? Or will there be room for a diverse landscape of independent, perhaps more specialized, but more open tools?
We don’t have a definitive answer. But we know we are not alone in this dilemma. That’s why we’re turning to you, the community of campaigners, tech enthusiasts, and critical thinkers. What tools are you using? What alternatives to the big platforms have you discovered?
Disclaimer: This post was created with partial assistance from AI tools (for research and fact-checking). All content has been carefully reviewed, revised, and approved.
