Manus Returns to Independent Operations Under Original Founding Team
AI Agent startup Manus has officially announced its return to operating as an independent general AI laboratory, led by founder Red Xiao, Chief Scientist Peak Ji, and co-founder Hidecloud. The restructuring follows a period of entity changes that previously caused temporary service disruptions and required user data restoration. Regaining independence allows Manus to control its product roadmap focused on building autonomous agents that execute complex workflows directly. It reflects the broader dynamic shifts and ownership reshuffling occurring among high-profile AI startups in the tech industry. Users who backed up their account data during the transition can still restore it through an official recovery portal without any strict deadline. The company stated that unaffected users do not need to take action as it prepares to release new updates for deeper workflow integration.
## BACKGROUND
Manus is an autonomous artificial intelligence agent designed to move beyond generating text by directly executing tasks and automating digital workflows. Developed by Butterfly Effect, the tool gained significant attention in the tech community for its ability to perform complex computer operations and interact with software on behalf of users.