Meta announced on Dec. 29 it has agreed to bring Chinese-founded artificial intelligence (AI) startup Manus into the company, as the Facebook and Instagram owner deepens its push to expand autonomous AI agents for businesses and consumers.

Meta said Manus will continue to operate its service and sell subscriptions while its technology and talent are integrated into Meta’s broader AI ecosystem, including Meta AI, the company’s generative assistant. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.

“We are excited to announce that Manus is joining Meta to bring a leading agent to billions of people and unlock opportunities for businesses across our products,” Meta said in a Dec. 29 statement.

The announcement reflects intensifying competition among U.S. technology companies to develop and deploy general-purpose AI agents, which are systems designed to independently carry out complex, multi-step tasks rather than respond to single prompts.

Meta said that Manus has built “one of the leading autonomous general-purpose agents” capable of independently executing tasks such as market research, coding, and data analysis.

The company said it plans to continue operating and selling the Manus service while integrating the technology into Meta’s consumer and business products.

“Manus is already serving the daily needs of millions of users and businesses worldwide. It launched its first general AI agent earlier this year and has already served more than 147T tokens and created more than 80M virtual computers,” Meta said.

The company said it plans to scale this service to many more businesses.

Technology Validation

Manus described the deal as a validation of its work on general AI agents, according to a separate statement published on its website on Dec. 29.

“The news is out, and it’s big: Manus is joining Meta,” the company said. “This announcement is more than just a headline—it’s validation of our pioneering work with general AI agents.”

The Singapore-based company said it has focused since launch on building an agent designed to help users with research, automation, and complex workflows.

Manus said it has continued to refine the product to improve reliability and usefulness across real-world use cases.

“We believe in the potential of autonomous agents, and this development reinforces Manus’s role as an execution layer—turning advanced AI capabilities into scalable, reliable systems that can carry out end-to-end work in real-world settings,” the company said.

Continuity for Customers and Operations

Manus sought to reassure customers that the change would not disrupt its operations. The company said it would continue to sell and operate its subscription service through its app and website and would remain headquartered in Singapore.

“Our top priority is ensuring that this change won’t be disruptive for our customers,” Manus said, adding that its solution is already driving value for millions of users worldwide.

The company said it hopes over time to expand its subscription offering to reach millions of businesses and billions of people across Meta’s platforms.

Xiao Hong, founder and chief executive of Manus, said the deal would allow the company to grow on a more stable foundation without altering its core decision-making.

“Joining Meta allows us to build on a stronger, more sustainable foundation without changing how Manus works or how decisions are made,” Xiao said. “We’re excited about what the future holds with Meta and Manus working together, and we will continue to iterate the product and serve users that have defined Manus from the beginning.”

Meta did not provide a timeline for when Manus technology would be fully integrated into its products.

The company said that Manus’s “exceptional talent” would join Meta’s teams to help deliver general-purpose agents across both consumer-facing and enterprise offerings.