Manus

AI startup Manus has launched its AI agent platform, marking an expansion of its product offering as it broadens the tools available to users. The launch positions the company in the fast-growing market for autonomous AI agents, though details on pricing, features and availability were not included in the initial report.

A writer has announced they are back at work on a long-unfinished manuscript, describing it as literary fiction and more specifically a biographical novel, while expressing reluctance to pin the work down to a single genre. Little else is known about the project, including its subject, plot or expected completion.

Commercial firms are paying researchers to carry out peer review of manuscripts submitted to academic journals, a task traditionally done unpaid as part of academic service. The development is prompting discussion about whether payment could ease reviewer shortages or instead create conflicts of interest and undermine trust in the peer review process that validates published research.

AI startup Manus has released version 2.0 of its AI agent platform. The update introduces the Cascade agent harness, which cut token usage by 23.2% and costs by 32% in testing. A new app called Cue gives each agent its own email address, phone number and digital wallet, and a China-specific version is planned.

Manus, the Singapore-based AI agent startup that Meta previously pursued with a 2 billion dollar acquisition offer, has released Manus 2.0. The new version gives each AI agent its own email address, phone number, wallet and computer. The company says its new Cascade architecture uses 32 percent fewer tokens and runs 28 percent faster than before.