On Tuesday, March 11, China's Manus AI announced a strategic partnership with the team from a major tech giant, a move expected to enhance the roll-out of its touted world's first general AI agent.
Distinguishing itself from chatbots, an AI agent can function as a digital employee, carrying out tasks independently with minimal input.
Last week, Manus AI debuted its product, claiming superior performance compared to OpenAI's AI agent, DeepResearch.
The launch caused a stir on Chinese social media, drawing comparisons to a Hangzhou-based group that surprised Silicon Valley with an affordable AI chatbot competing with top OpenAI products.
Teaming up with Qwen could disrupt an industry still responding to DeepSeek's emergence.
Manus AI, based in Beijing and Wuhan under Beijing Butterfly Effect Technology Ltd Co, promoted its product by completing numerous tasks for users on X at no cost.
Although the AI agent is by invitation only, the company has acknowledged website glitches hindering user experience on X.
The partnership with Qwen aims to help Manus handle increased traffic, expand its user base, while Alibaba seeks to outpace competitors like .
Collaboration will focus on integrating Manus' AI agent features with Chinese AI models and computing platforms, as announced on social media platform Weibo.
An Alibaba spokesperson confirmed the partnership, expressing excitement about working with global AI innovators.
Responding swiftly to DeepSeek's success in January, the Qwen AI models team released a during a public holiday, showing their agility in the market.