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🤖 Manus is Another Case of AI Hype Inflation

🤖 Manus is Another Case of AI Hype Inflation

Plus: OpenAI's Agent Building Tools and Europe's €20B AI Investment

March 13, 2025

Hello AI Enthusiast,

This week in AI, we're examining three key developments: Manus, the Chinese AI platform generating massive buzz; OpenAI's new suite of tools simplifying AI agent development; and Europe's €20 billion investment in "AI gigafactories". These stories reveal different approaches to advancing AI capabilities and influence.

The Big Picture 🔊

OpenAI Launches New Tools for Building AI Agents

OpenAI has released new tools to help developers build AI agents, programs that can complete tasks independently for users. The package includes the Responses API (a simpler way to connect AI models with useful tools), built-in capabilities like web search and document search, a new Agents SDK to manage how these AI helpers work together, and monitoring tools to spot and fix problems.

Gianluca MauroFounder and AI Rockstar

These new tools make building agents much simpler by reducing the technical complexity for developers. The Agent SDK is especially valuable, it manages decision-making logic that previously required custom coding. These capabilities will eventually appear in no-code platforms, making agent creation more accessible to non-developers.

This release reveals their strategy: keeping developers within their ecosystem rather than just providing APIs for external platforms, with agents clearly central to their vision of AI's future.

While OpenAI's new tools target developers, they signal a shift that will soon impact everyone as these capabilities reach no-code platforms. To help non-technical professionals navigate this landscape, in the coming months we'll launch a new course on building AI agents without coding knowledge. Our Members will get first access. If you'd like to be among the first to learn these valuable skills, consider joining our Membership program.

Manus AI Hype

Manus, a new "agentic" AI platform from Chinese startup Butterfly Effect, has generated enormous buzz despite limited access. With over 138,000 Discord members in days and invite codes reportedly selling for thousands of dollars in China, it's been described as "the most impressive AI tool" by some industry figures. The platform claims to automate complex tasks from buying real estate to programming video games, with its research lead suggesting it outperforms tools like OpenAI's deep research and Operator.

Gianluca MauroFounder and AI Rockstar

The Manus hype reveals more about AI media coverage than actual innovation. It's essentially 29 open-source tools connected to Claude 3.7. Nothing revolutionary.

Remember the quickly forgotten Humane AI Pin, Friend AI, and Rabbit R1? Manus gained extra attention partly because its Chinese origin fed into an exciting narrative about global AI competition.

The reality is simpler: connecting AI with useful tools is valuable, but reliable implementation matters more than concepts. As one developer described Manus: "open source libraries stitched together with duct tape and hope".

Tell us the truth: Are you on the Manus waitlist?

EU Invests €20B in AI Gigafactories

The European Commission is raising €20 billion to build four "AI gigafactories" as part of its €200 billion InvestAI plan. Each facility would house 100,000 advanced chips for AI development, though challenges remain in securing chips, providing sufficient electricity, and addressing rapid hardware obsolescence. The initiative represents Europe's push for technological sovereignty in the global AI race.

Helin YontarCPO and Polyglot

Europe's €20B AI investment isn't just about keeping pace with the US, it's about technological sovereignty. While the risk of being cut off from US technology might seem small, the consequences would be devastating.

The real challenge isn't building gigafactories, but creating an ecosystem where they'll be useful, especially with Europe's energy limitations and lack of established cloud providers. Hardware alone won't secure Europe's digital independence.

Bits and Bobs 🗞️

Andreessen Horowitz’s Top 100 Gen AI Consumer Apps (4th ed.) report highlights major AI shifts, including Deepseek’s rise, AI video advancements, and “vibecoding,” while tracking the top AI web and mobile apps.
Mistral’s new OCR API offers fast, accurate text extraction from documents, supports multiple languages, and integrates with AI.
Google has released an experimental Gemini Embedding text model, through the Gemini API, which shows improved performance across various domains like finance and science.
Hugging Face partnered with Cerebras to bring ultra-fast AI inference—up to 70x faster than GPUs—to its platform, giving developers seamless access to high-speed open-source models.
Apple is experiencing delays in upgrading Siri with promised generative AI features, prompting concerns about Apple's ability to maintain its market position in AI-enabled devices.

From Our Founder’s Channels 🤳

If you don’t have enough of Gianluca’s take on Manus, here’s his TikTok.

@gianluca.mauro
Let’s talk about Manus - the new Chinese AI agent #Ai #learnontiktok #artificialintelligence #business #machinelearning #product #ux #entr... See more

LOLgorithms 😂

AI influencers are easily influenceable.

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Catch you next week! 👋