I compared Manus AI to ChatGPT – now I understand why everyone is calling it the next DeepSeek

Manus is Latin for hand. Manus is positioned as a helpful hand in any type of complex research or content generation.

Manus is said to be more sophisticated than any of its competitors. I’m sure I will do this, but I think it is worth comparing Manus to the much more popular ChatGPT.

Manus requires an invitation and the company must approve your reasons for wanting it to be tested. They’ve provided several demonstrations of what Manus is capable of. Any demo should be taken lightly, as they will almost certainly only show the AI’s best side. The demos still show what Manus is capable of.

Some of the demos are far beyond what ChatGPT is capable of at the consumer level. In order to achieve this, I chose prompts to which both models could productively respond. I also chose projects that anyone, regardless of profession, could engage in. The options were not drastically narrowed by either caveat. In the images below the Manus output is on right and ChatGPT is on left.

Fantasy Movie

My first step was to create a fun movie script prompt: “Develop a fantasy screenplay exploring a hypothetical interaction between Mayan and ancient Egyptian civilizations. Balance historical accuracy with creative liberty. First, compile relevant reference materials. Then, propose potential narrative directions and creative inspirations. Finally, select the most compelling concept and draft a preliminary script outline.”

Manus created the prompt using only a few concepts, then asked the AI to do research, brainstorm and choose an option before producing an outline for the actual screenplay. It produced a few ideas for the film, followed by a lot of research about the two civilizations. Finally, it chose the best one and wrote a competent outline. ChatGPT impressed me, despite not being as detailed in its research or as eloquent when drafting the outline. ChatGPT showed that it was able to match Manus’ creativity in some areas, even though Manus is more thorough.

Adobe was

I then selected a longer-form writing prompt and asked for a novel on a subject that would normally be very dry. I asked ChatGPT follow the Manus prompt “Write a novel-style biography of Adobe Company, approximately 10,000 words in length. While maintaining factual accuracy, go beyond a simple chronological narrative to create a compelling story.”

Neither of these turned software development into an engaging narrative, but Manus followed the length requirement better. While I did not find any errors, the ChatGPT approach felt more like an imaginatively written Wikipedia article than a novel. Manus had an entire book with quotes and a lot of context. ChatGPT Deep Research might be able to match it but I wanted the ChatGPT model that is more common for now.

Business Cards

I wanted to know what Manus claimed about design and image creation. So I chose the business card prompt as the next ChatGPT compare, asking it also, “Create a minimalist, elegant business card for me inspired by Apple’s design philosophy. I’ve attached my resume for reference.”

Manus created a very nice, professional business card that did exactly what the prompt asked and incorporated the relevant details from his resume. When I used the exact same resume and prompt in ChatGPT, it was a bit messy. The text is not clear (or appears to be in human language), and the Apple reference has been taken more literally, implying that the company offers a job. It’s more like a mini-battery than a business card. Not the kind of professional card you’d want people to have.

Ocean Meditation

I chose an interesting writing prompt and audio generation from Manus for the final test. “Please help me create a five-minute meditation audio. My name is Wayne, and I like the ocean.”

Manus did what was expected and created a beautiful script, edited it and had a nice reader read it with accompanying sounds of the ocean. You can listen to this combination on the Demo pageallows you to adjust the volume of voice and waves sounds. ChatGPT created a script that was significantly less than five minutes in length. While it produced audio, the script did not include any wave sounds. Even if you only listen to the audio, it is clear which voice will help with meditation. The Manus audio file is at the top, and the ChatGPT effort below it.

Manus magic

I can now see why DeepSeek is a better AI assistant. It seems to be able to follow prompts in a very impressive way. If you are a researcher, designer, or need multimedia integration and lesson plans that have been thoroughly researched, Manus is a great option.

Despite this, ChatGPT remains the best AI tool for everyday users. ChatGPT and other AI tools with similar power are the best AIs if you want an AI that is reliable, quick, and can generate high-quality answers in most situations. It does what you want without complicating things. ChatGPT will suffice in most cases. Manus is the best choice if you are looking for an AI that will feel like it belongs in your boardroom or research laboratory.

You may also enjoyI discovered a surprising distinction between DeepSeek’s search capabilities and those of ChatGPT

• Gemini 2.0 Flash was pitted against DeepSeek R1, you might be surprised at the winner
• ChatGPT can give me answers, but Deep Research provides a dissertation I will almost never need.

Sign up to receive breaking news, reviews and opinions, as well as top tech deals.

Eric Hal Schwartz has been a freelance writer at TechRadar for more than 15 years. He has covered the intersection of technology and the world. He was the head writer of Voicebot.ai for five years and was at the forefront of reporting on large language models and generative AI. Since then, he has become an expert in the products of generative AI, including OpenAI’s ChatGPT and Anthropic’s Claude. He also knows Google Gemini and all other synthetic media tools. His experience spans print, digital and broadcast media as well as live events. He’s now continuing to tell stories that people want to hear and need to know about the rapidly changing AI space and the impact it has on their lives. Eric is based out of New York City.