Manus Debuts Wide Research: 100 Sneakers, 50 Posters, All in Minutes

Manus, an AI startup originally from China, has introduced a new feature called Wide Research. This tool is designed to handle complex tasks that require information on numerous items. Manus announced this in a blog post on July 31, highlighting it as their most significant launch since March. The feature aims to simplify deep, high-volume research.

Wide Research is positioned as Manus' response to similar offerings from US competitors like OpenAI's Deep Research and Google's Deep Think. It follows the recent introduction of OpenAI's ChatGPT Agent. "With the launch of Wide Research, Manus unlocks a powerful new way for users to tackle complex, large-scale tasks that require information on hundreds of items," Manus stated. "Wide Research marks a milestone in our exploration of the scaling laws of AI agents, but it's just the beginning. The infrastructure behind it is part of something much bigger we're building," it added.

Wide Research: A New Era for AI Agents

The newly launched feature will initially be available for Pro customers, with plans to extend access to Plus and Basic tier users later. Built on Manus' large-scale virtualization infrastructure and efficient agent architecture, Wide Research took months of optimisation to develop. "At its core, Wide Research is a system-level mechanism for parallel processing, and a protocol for agent-to-agent collaboration," the company explained.

Unlike other multi-agent systems such as specialised AI agent managers or coding assistants, Wide Research employs general-purpose AI agents for task execution. This approach provides flexibility as tasks are not limited to specific formats or domains. "This generality unlocks flexibility: tasks are not constrained to rigid formats or predefined domains. In practice, the only real limit is your imagination," Manus noted.

Exploring the Capabilities of Wide Research

In a demonstration video shared on X by co-founder Peak Ji, Wide Research was shown conducting research on 100 sneakers simultaneously and creating 50 poster designs in minutes. Users can perform extensive research tasks like exploring Fortune 500 companies or comparing top MBA programs using this tool. However, Ji cautioned that Wide Research remains experimental and may have limitations.

Earlier this year, Manus made waves with its general-purpose AI agent capable of autonomously executing web-based tasks like crafting trip itineraries from simple prompts. In June, they launched an AI video generator as well. These features are integrated with large language models such as Anthropic's Claude.

Manus' Strategic Moves and Funding

"Behind every Manus session runs a dedicated cloud-based virtual machine, allowing users to orchestrate complex cloud workloads — simply by talking to an agent," the company said. "From generating tailored rental presentations to safely evaluating cutting-edge open-source projects in a secure sandbox, the Turing-completeness of the virtual machine is what gives Manus its generality — and opens the door to endless creative possibilities," it added.

Recently relocating operations from China to Singapore, Tokyo, and San Mateo in California, Manus no longer offers its products in China according to Bloomberg reports. In a recent funding round led by US venture firm Benchmark, Manus secured $75 million. Early investors include Chinese tech giants Tencent along with HSG (formerly Sequoia China) and ZhenFund.

The introduction of Wide Research signifies an important step for Manus in enhancing its AI capabilities while expanding its global reach through strategic relocations and funding efforts.