Zuck’s Chinese agentic prey escapes, will resume standalone ops

China's recent decision not to permit Meta to acquire the local AI startup Manus AI has led the fledgling company to announce it will resume operating independently soon. Manus AI entered the AI scene in March 2025 with its "general agent" that allowed users to assign tasks to an AI, claiming the ability to select the best job candidates by evaluating stored .ZIP files and writing documents ranking the applications.

The service grew rapidly, reaching a $100 million run rate. To secure funding, Manus relocated its headquarters from China to Singapore, Investor-friendly. In December 2025, Meta's CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced plans to acquire Manus to integrate its tech into Meta's AI products. Beijing, however, decided to investigate the acquisition in early 2026, ultimately banning foreign investment in Manus.

Despite Meta choosing not to contest China's decision, the company has since disentangled itself from Manus. Manus published a statement on Tuesday declaring it will "soon return to operating as an independent company," stating legal matters require the deletion of some user data generated since December 29, 2025. Customers who downloaded their data before August 24 can restore it from August 25.

Meta has yet to specify how it will replace Manus's tech or whether it learned enough during its collaboration to achieve the desired results. This incident highlights China's determination to maintain control over local innovators, while simultaneously utilizing open-weight models to challenge American model-makers.