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Manus Unveils “Wide Research” Feature
Chinese AI startup Manus, known for its innovative multi-agent orchestration platform aimed at consumers and professionals, has introduced an intriguing new application of its technology. While major competitors like OpenAI, Google, and xAI have launched “Deep Research” AI agents that conduct extensive web research and generate comprehensive reports, Manus is taking a different route. The company recently announced its experimental feature called “Wide Research,” which allows users to execute large-scale, high-volume tasks by harnessing the capabilities of over 100 parallelized AI agents, all working towards a shared goal.
Demonstration of Wide Research
In a video shared on Manus’ official X account, co-founder and Chief Scientist Yichao ‘Peak’ Ji demonstrated the Wide Research feature by comparing 100 different sneakers. To accomplish this, the feature quickly activated 100 concurrent subagents, each tasked with analyzing a specific shoe’s design, pricing, and availability. The outcome was a sortable matrix delivered in both spreadsheet and webpage formats within minutes. Manus emphasizes that Wide Research is not limited to data analysis; it can also be applied to creative tasks, such as design exploration. In one instance, Manus agents generated poster designs across 50 distinct visual styles, providing polished assets in a downloadable ZIP file.
The Technology Behind Wide Research
According to Manus, the flexibility of Wide Research arises from its system-level approach to parallel processing and communication between agents. Peak explains that this feature represents the first application of an optimized virtualization and agent architecture that scales computing power up to 100 times beyond previous capabilities. The system is designed to activate automatically during tasks requiring extensive analysis, eliminating the need for manual toggles or configurations.
Subscription Plans and Pricing
Wide Research is now available for users on the Manus Pro plan, with plans to gradually extend access to those on the Plus and Basic plans. Subscription pricing is structured as follows:
– Free – $0/month: Includes 300 daily refresh credits, access to Chat mode, 1 concurrent task, and 1 scheduled task.
– Basic – $19/month: Adds 1,900 monthly credits (with a bonus of 1,900 during a limited offer), 2 concurrent and 2 scheduled tasks, access to advanced models in Agent mode, image/video/slides generation, and exclusive data sources.
– Plus – $39/month: Increases to 3 concurrent and 3 scheduled tasks, 3,900 monthly credits (with a bonus of 3,900), and includes all Basic features.
– Pro – $199/month: Offers 10 concurrent and 10 scheduled tasks, 19,900 credits (with a bonus of 19,900), early access to beta features, a Manus T-shirt, and the full feature set, including advanced agent tools and content generation.
Additionally, users opting for annual payment can receive a 17% discount on these prices.
The Future of Manus and AI Workflows
The launch of Wide Research builds on the infrastructure introduced by Manus earlier this year, which the company describes as not just an AI agent but a personal cloud computing platform. Each Manus session operates on a dedicated virtual machine, granting users access to orchestrated cloud computing through natural language—an approach that Manus believes is crucial for enabling true general-purpose AI workflows.
With Wide Research, Manus users can delegate research or creative tasks across numerous subagents. Unlike traditional multi-agent systems with predefined roles, each subagent in Wide Research is a fully capable Manus instance, operating independently and ready to tackle any general task. This architectural choice allows for flexible, scalable task management, unhindered by rigid templates. The implication is that running multiple agents in parallel will yield faster results and a more diverse range of outputs beyond mere research reports, setting Manus apart from the single “Deep Research” agents offered by other AI providers.