Manus operates as a multi-agent AI system, coordinating a team of sub-agents to complete various tasks, from travel planning to financial analysis, rather than relying on a single neural network.

Manus employs a planner agent that creates a master plan by breaking tasks into manageable subtasks, ensuring precise execution and efficient task management.

One innovative feature of Manus is its ability to expose the file system, enabling users to see exactly what the agents are doing, unlike ChatGPT, which requires reprompting and lacks transparency.

However, Manus faces challenges with coordination among specialized agents as tasks scale in complexity, which can hinder its effectiveness.

Manus is being called the most impressive AI tool ever tried, showcasing its capabilities as a sophisticated computer using AI, unlike its predecessors that were merely specialized chatbots.

Manus can accomplish a wide range of real-world tasks, excelling in creating travel itineraries, detailed financial analyses, and educational content, while also assisting with database compilation and high-quality presentations.

OpenAI's approach to implementing chain of thought reasoning in o1 remains largely undisclosed, but it likely involves advanced prompt engineering techniques.

Manus exemplifies these trade-offs well, as its multi-agent orchestration significantly reduces per-task costs to around $2, compared to competitors like OpenAI's Deep Research.

Manus provides greater transparency and user control, allowing users to inspect, customize, or replace individual sub-agents and tool integrations, which centralized platforms often lack.