On Tuesday, Manus AI announced a strategic partnership with the team behind Alibaba’s Qwen AI models, a move aimed at strengthening the artificial intelligence start-up’s goal of deploying the world’s first general AI agent. Unlike traditional chatbots, which respond to user inputs, an AI agent can operate autonomously, executing tasks with minimal human intervention.
Manus AI, which officially launched last week, claimed that its performance surpasses that of OpenAI’s DeepResearch, a popular AI agent. The launch garnered significant attention on Chinese social media, with many comparing Manus AI to DeepSeek, a product by the Hangzhou-based creators of DeepSeek, which surprised Silicon Valley with a cost-effective AI chatbot that rivaled OpenAI’s best.
The partnership with Qwen could create further disruption in the AI industry, which is still reeling from DeepSeek’s emergence. Manus AI, which is part of Beijing Butterfly Effect Technology Ltd Co with offices in Beijing and Wuhan, has been promoting its product by completing various tasks for users for free on the social media platform X. However, the AI agent remains available by invitation only, and the company has admitted that its website is facing technical difficulties due to increased traffic.
The collaboration with Alibaba’s Qwen team is expected to help Manus AI handle the traffic surge and expand its user base. Meanwhile, Alibaba aims to enhance its competitiveness against rivals such as DeepSeek. The two companies plan to integrate Manus AI’s functions with Qwen’s open-source models and AI platforms in China, as announced on Weibo.
A spokesperson for Alibaba confirmed the partnership and expressed enthusiasm about collaborating with more global AI innovators. The Qwen team had previously responded to DeepSeek’s global success by releasing a model they claimed surpassed DeepSeek-V3, further intensifying the competition in the AI space.
