Meta, the parent company of Facebook, has announced its acquisition of Manus, an advanced artificial intelligence agent created by Singapore-based startup Butterfly Effect, originally founded in China. The financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.

About Manus
Unlike standard AI chatbots, Manus is designed as an AI agent capable of autonomously performing complex tasks. Its functionalities include:

• Summarising and analysing resumes
• Generating stock analysis websites
• Executing multi-step workflows for users and businesses

Meta stated that the acquisition will bring Manus’s capabilities to billions of users and open new opportunities for business integrations across its platforms.

Statements from Leadership

• Xiao Hong, CEO of Manus, highlighted the potential of the partnership: “The era of AI that doesn’t just talk, but acts, creates, and delivers, is only beginning. And now, with Meta, we get to build it at a scale we never could have imagined.”
• Mark Zuckerberg, Meta CEO, continues his massive AI push, investing billions in acquisitions, engineering talent, and data centre infrastructure.

Analyst Insights
Bloomberg Intelligence analysts suggest the acquisition could be valued at over $2 billion, primarily aimed at expanding Meta’s AI agent task capabilities. They also cautioned that regulatory scrutiny could arise due to Manus’s Chinese origins, amid ongoing technological tensions between Washington and Beijing.