Imma be honest: Manus has me looking at my ChatGPT subscription sideways.

Sorry! I'm getting ahead of myself. ?????? 

I need to bring you up to speed on what Manus is and why it's been making headlines everywhere. Manus is a new AI agent designed to handle tasks autonomously, similar to OpenAI Operator.

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So ya boy had to put on his investigative journalist hat to see if Manus is worth the hype and how it might help you and me make some moola or, at the very least, make our lives easier.

I'm going on a tangent here, but one thing I love about the "AI revolution" is how all these tech companies are beefing over my$20 bucks and doing the absolute most on their free plans. I LOVE THIS FOR US. ??

Words can't describe how much I love NOT paying thousands for a software subscription.

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I feel like an evil genius. I was willing to pay$299 bucks.... each.

Muahahahaaaaaaaaaa.

But I digress. Let's get back to what Manus is and why I'm considering canceling my ChatGPT Pro subscription.

If you're new to my work, my name isLester,but feel free to call me Les. I'm an award-winning performance marketer and chairman of a group of DTC brands. These days, I'm focused on helping everyday people navigate the crowded AI space.

If you're looking for practical and helpful AI tips and tricks,sign up for my free newsletter, No Fluff Just Facts.I share AI news, marketing insights, and trends I'm seeing that move the needle.

But enough about me. Let's jump into why I'm keeping an eye on Manus.

What are AI agents?

Let me give you a quick crash course on AI agents and how they work. ??

Without getting super technical, AI agents use reinforcement learning, neural networks, and NLP to process inputs, make decisions, and take action. They also use memory networks, transformer architectures, and attention mechanisms to understand context. For complex tasks, agents rely on planning algorithms, Monte Carlo tree search, and multi-agent systems to break things down and execute step by step.

That's a fancy way of saying it's an automated virtual assistant or an advanced version of IFTTT programming (If This Then This). You give the agent a set of instructions like "go here," "research this," "document that," and it gets to work. ??

The downside is that there's no critical thinking as of the writing of this article. Your agent becomes a deer in the headlights if any unexpected change occurs.

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These AI agents work best if you're already a subject matter expert or at least familiar with the workflow you're trying to automate.

While the technology is impressive, regardless of what the big tech marketing department tells you, AI agents ain't magic.

Just because you develop an AI marketing agent doesn't mean you're suddenly a marketing genius, and your products will fly off the proverbial shelf. You still need a certain level of domain experience to truly utilize these agents.

Now that we're caught up on AI agents let's jump into the tea on Manus.

What is Manus, and why should you care?

Manus is designed to autonomously handle tasks for you, like a personal assistant who answers questions, proactively books meetings manages emails and even handles tedious tasks.

Manus claims its not another chatbot or workflow tool but a fully autonomous "general AI agent." ??

The company behind Manus claims it can research, analyze data, code software, and even deploy websites autonomously. It uses multiple specialized AI models to solve real-world problems without constant human input. Early tests and competitions like Kaggle suggest Manus could outperform current AI tools.

Also: The best AI for coding in 2025 (and what not to use)

While the initial demonstrations look impressive, it's too soon to know whether Manus fully lives up to the hype. ??

How to use Manus

As far as AI agents go, I've gone on record a few times about how we approach these tools internally. I always recommend identifying the repetitive tasks you do so you know exactly what to automate and what needs your personal touch. ?

Here are a few examples of how Manus claims it can help:

1. Resume screening: Imagine you're flooded with job applications. Manus can go through a bunch of resumes, pick out the good ones, and make a spreadsheet ranking the candidates from best to worst.

2. House hunting: Say you're moving to New York and want to find the perfect place. Manus will do all the legwork from checking out safe neighborhoods, crunching numbers for your budget, and even filtering through real estate listings. It'll hand you a detailed report with all the details.

3. Stock market analysis: It can dive deep into stock data, do some fancy analysis to show you what's what with different stocks.

Manus aims to be your new best friend who takes care of all the tedious tasks while you chill. ??

My two cents

You're probably wondering if I'd recommend Manus and what's going to happen with my ChatGPT Pro subscription.

Look, the Manus brochure is amazing but let's be real for a second; it's still early days.

The industry loves to brag about "benchmarks," but do you know what my benchmark is?

How many prompts do I need to enter before I get completely annoyed with AI and do it myself?

Also: Why you should ignore 99% of AI tools - and which four I use every day

Based on that benchmark, not enough time has passed for me to give you an answer one way or the other.

So yeah, there's lots of hype, but I need to spend a little more time with Manus before I can tell you, yeah, go cop that ish.

Whether you use AI agents to streamline your workflow or become a provider yourself, there's money to be made and opportunities up for grabs. You should pay close attention to this space and start using an AI agent in your workflow, no matter which model you choose.

For now, I'm keeping my ChatGPT Pro subscription. I'll keep my eye on Manus and report back in the coming weeks, so stay tuned.

Hope this helps.

P.S. If you want more easy and helpful AI tips and tricks,sign up for my free newsletter, No Fluff Just Facts.

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