Split from Meta, Chinese startup Manus unveils a competing AI

At the end of December 2025, Meta announced the acquisition of Manus, a fledgling agentic AI startup, for a reported amount of around $2 billion. The Chinese regulator blocked the deal in the spring, before the breakup was made official in mid-June.On Monday, Manus itself unveiled Cue, a personal agents application launched just three weeks after Muse, Meta’s digital butler.

An email address, number, and wallet for each agent

Each agent created in Cue receives “its own email address, phone number, wallet, and computer.” This allows it to send messages, make purchases within a budget set by the user, and carry out a task end to end on its own machine without taking over its owner’s. The agent would also answer phone calls and place orders by scanning a QR code.

Access remains free at this stage, by invitation, with an early-access code reserved for the first 1,000 sign-ups. The app is available on the web, on desktop, and on mobile, while the iPhone version is still awaiting App Store approval. No definitive pricing schedule has been announced.

Under the hood, Cue is built on Manus 2.0 and Cascade, a new in-house architecture that the company credits with completing tasks using 23.2% fewer tokens, 28.2% faster, and at a cost reduced by one-third. These figures come from the sole interested party and await independent verification. The update also includes Studio, a shared workspace for humans and agents, and a cloud computer where each of them operates.

The acquisition Beijing undid

The acquisition announced at the end of December did not last six months: an investigation by the Chinese Ministry of Commerce as early as January, the deal being blocked on April 27, and the breakup officially announced by Meta on June 15. The stakes in the American group were reportedly bought back at their original price by Tencent and other investors in the startup.

After regaining its independence on August 11, Manus resumed its activities on September 1, one week before Meta unveiled Muse. The latter reads and sends emails, integrates with WhatsApp and is currently limited to the United States. Meta describes it as free for most uses, with subscriptions to go further, and runs it on Muse Spark, its in-house model unveiled in the spring. The counterattack therefore arrives even before the target is available elsewhere, and it targets the same territory: that of the assistant that acts on your behalf.

The availability of Cue in Europe has not been specified, and Muse has not yet crossed the Atlantic: for French users, this duel between agents that make phone calls and payments can be watched from the sidelines. The agent equipped with a wallet will nevertheless eventually arrive here, with a question that neither Manus nor Meta resolves today: who is responsible when the machine pays incorrectly.

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Source: Manus