[HN Gopher] ManusAI Joins Meta
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       ManusAI Joins Meta
        
       Author : gniting
       Score  : 37 points
       Date   : 2025-12-29 22:24 UTC (35 minutes ago)
        
 (HTM) web link (manus.im)
 (TXT) w3m dump (manus.im)
        
       | varunramesh wrote:
       | It's everywhere.
       | https://www.reddit.com/r/ChatGPT/comments/1l8harj/its_not_ju...
        
         | embedding-shape wrote:
         | Kind of feels like they might have done it on purpose, just to
         | "trigger" people and get more engagement. Feels like a lot of
         | people are falling for it too, so I guess good for them.
        
           | andy99 wrote:
           | It's been very effective watermarking compared to some of the
           | more complicated and seemingly unsuccessful methods that have
           | been proposed.
        
       | bigyabai wrote:
       | > This announcement is more than just a headline--it's validation
       | of our pioneering work with General AI Agents.
       | 
       | Is it, now?
        
       | fibers wrote:
       | Why Meta and not OAI/Anthropic or Google? Is this their attempt
       | after llama4?
        
       | reactordev wrote:
       | If you can't beat em. Buy someone who can.
        
       | syspec wrote:
       | > This announcement is more than just a headline--it's validation
       | of our pioneering work with General AI Agents.
       | 
       | Anyone else thought this was satire when they read that as the
       | second line in the announcement?
       | 
       | I literally laughed, then clicked the top left logo, to check out
       | the homepage and see if this `ManuAI` was a real website.
       | 
       | ---
       | 
       | You would think that they would know better to at least edit that
       | out.
       | 
       | It's not just ironic -- it's cosmically poetic.
        
         | yanslookup wrote:
         | I don't get it.
         | 
         | They are saying the announcement means more to them than just a
         | headline that most will scroll past. Maybe you are seeing
         | something I'm not.
        
           | sokka_h2otribe wrote:
           | Op is saying it sounds like it was written like an LLM
        
             | yanslookup wrote:
             | ok... it's an AI company, It'd be odd if it weren't written
             | by AI, no?
        
               | conception wrote:
               | It is odd that they didn't care or have the wherewithal
               | to make it not sound obviously like an LLM wrote it.
        
               | rbtprograms wrote:
               | Would that be odd? AI companies are still staffed by
               | people, and large announcements like acquihires certainly
               | feel like they could use a slightly more human touch if
               | they truly mean a lot to the company.
        
       | joshuamerrill wrote:
       | The evidence is pretty clear, and it keeps growing. Social media
       | causes real harm, both to individuals and to society. It is
       | addictive by design, it worsens mental health especially for
       | kids, and it rewards outrage and misinformation. In that way,
       | social media looks a lot like smoking. It was widely adopted
       | before we understood the risks, then aggressively pushed because
       | it was profitable.
       | 
       | Meta did more than just take part in this system. It perfected
       | it, scaled it worldwide, and resisted meaningful change until
       | public pressure or regulation forced its hand.
       | 
       | That is why it is worrying to see Meta present itself as a
       | trusted builder of the next major technology wave. When a company
       | repeatedly puts growth ahead of social harm, skepticism is not
       | bias. It is common sense. Giving that company even more powerful
       | and less transparent tools should cause us alarm.
        
         | thierrydamiba wrote:
         | What's the difference between social media and books?
         | 
         | Or is your point that all entertainment is harmful to
         | individuals and society?
        
       | kylecazar wrote:
       | From their Wikipedia, because I had no idea who they were:
       | 
       | "Following Manus's launch in March 2025, Butterfly Effect raised
       | $75 million in a funding round led by Benchmark at a valuation of
       | approximately $500 million in April 2025."
       | 
       | Half a billion a month after launch and acquisition before the
       | end of the same year. Wild times.
        
       | llmslave2 wrote:
       | Who?
        
       | howmayiannoyyou wrote:
       | Manus was pretty damn good at delivering impressive results well
       | before other providers. I stopped using it because I was
       | concerned about data privacy and and whatever extent one
       | particular foreign country might (or might not) have hooks into
       | Manus. Now that Meta has purchased them I know I'm safe
       | ((sarcasm)).
       | 
       | I have many questions:
       | 
       | - Will Meta fuck this up as they seem (in my opinion) to do with
       | most of the acquisitions? Oculus? Drop.io?
       | 
       | - Did they grossly overpay?
       | 
       | - Will innovation slow to a crawl (eg. Instagram, Whatsapp)?
       | 
       | - Will Manus' top talent bail?
       | 
       | - How is it conceivable Meta couldn't build this themselves. It
       | can't possibly have been Manus' user base they were after, can
       | it?
       | 
       | - How much trouble am I in for telling my wife to sell her Meta
       | stock two weeks ago?
       | 
       | The acquisition is confusing to me.
        
       | andrewinardeer wrote:
       | Nothing about how much Meta paid for Manus. Is this an actual
       | accuquisition?
        
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       (page generated 2025-12-29 23:00 UTC)