In Beijing, Chinese AI startup Manus has officially registered its AI assistant for the Chinese market. The startup received recognition in a state media broadcast, showing Beijing's support for boosting domestic AI firms that are gaining international acclaim.

Chinese investors have been eager to find the next groundbreaking domestic startup after DeepSeek surprised Silicon Valley by developing cost-effective AI models comparable to U.S. competitors. Manus has caught the attention of many, with its recent release of what it claims to be the world's first general AI agent that can autonomously make decisions and perform tasks with minimal prompting, contrasting with traditional AI chatbots like ChatGPT and DeepSeek.

Beijing seems poised to back the rollout of Manus within China, similar to its response to the success of DeepSeek. State broadcaster CCTV aired a segment on Manus, highlighting the differences between its AI agent and DeepSeek's AI chatbot.

On top of this, the Beijing municipal government announced that a Chinese version of Manus' previous AI assistant product, Monica, has completed the necessary registration for generative AI apps in China. This step is crucial as Chinese regulatory requirements for generative AI applications are stringent to prevent the creation of content that may be considered sensitive or harmful.

Manus recently formed a strategic partnership with the team responsible for Alibaba's Qwen AI models, which could help facilitate the widespread adoption of Manus' AI agent in China. Currently, access to the AI agent is limited to users with invite codes, and there is a waiting list of 2 million people, according to the startup.