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Meta has said it is buying the artificial intelligence agent Manus, in a rare example of a US technology group scooping up a cutting-edge AI platform with Chinese roots.

In a statement, Meta said that it would “operate and sell the Manus service” — a highly sophisticated digital helper — while integrating its technology into its own products, such as its Meta AI chatbot. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed. 

Manus is one of the “leading autonomous general-purpose agents” and its tools can perform tasks that include “market research, coding and data analysis”, Meta said. Businesses can purchase subscriptions to its agents for as little as $20 a month. 

Meta chief Mark Zuckerberg is pouring billions of dollars into the fast-developing technology in an effort to compete with OpenAI and Google.

The Meta chief executive is racing to develop what he dubs “personal superintelligence”, investing in AI infrastructure and hiring top researchers while scooping up several smaller AI start-ups.

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An early investor in the Manus team said the deal would rank as Meta’s third largest acquisition after WhatsApp and Scale AI. Meta paid $19bn for WhatsApp in 2014 and up to $15bn for a 49 per cent stake in Scale AI this year.

“The era belonging to this generation of young Chinese entrepreneurs has arrived,” ZhenFund partner Liu Yuan said on WeChat. Liu noted that Zuckerberg has been a longtime Manus user.

The purchase of Manus, which has around 100 staff globally, could raise hackles in Washington and Beijing at a time when the AI race has become a flashpoint in China-US relations. 

Once hailed as the next DeepSeek, Manus parent Butterfly Effect this year raised money in a funding round led by US venture firm Benchmark.

Benchmark and its partners came under fire from China hawks in Washington, who argued that the deal flouted rules banning American groups from investing in Chinese AI. The Manus team, meanwhile, relocated to Singapore, prompting some Chinese media to label the company “defectors”.

“In this AI wave Chinese entrepreneurs building open-source large models or AI applications have been iterating the fastest and are highly competitive,” said Li Chengdong, founder of Haitun internet think-tank.

“An incredible company and team are being sold to the United States,” he said. “If [China] doesn’t value talent and entrepreneurs, and [doesn’t] respect the basic rules of capital, it will ultimately be very hard [for the country] to win the China-US tech war.”

AI entrepreneur Alexandr Wang, hired by Zuckerberg this summer to lead Meta’s AI efforts, said on X that Meta was also recruiting more widely in Singapore, where the Manus team will remain based.

Zuckerberg is facing increasing pressure to justify his gargantuan AI spending and find ways to monetise the technology with consumers or enterprises, including the millions of businesses that use the platform for advertising. 

The company has been exploring trialling premium subscriptions for its AI assistant Meta AI, for tasks such as booking reservations and video creation, according to people familiar with the matter. 

“Joining Meta allows us to build on a stronger, more sustainable foundation without changing how Manus works or how decisions are made,” said Xiao Hong, chief executive of Manus, in a statement.