Manus AI: The Research Sidekick That Outshines the Big Dogs

I recently scored a trial of Manus.im, a tool built by a team hell-bent on crafting the ultimate AI companion. This isn’t your average chatbot waiting for a pat on the head — it’s a dynamo that moves. It dances through the web’s chaos, sidesteps blockers, and delivers results with gusto. Naturally, I pitted it against heavyweights like Grok’s Deepsearch. Spoiler: I’m hooked.

The Mission: Hunting Small Businesses That Need A Receptionist

I’ve been obsessed with a project — pinpointing small businesses with abysmal phone etiquette. Think endless hold loops or dead silence when you dial. Typically, I’d grind it out with Python and Beautiful Soup, scraping Yelp or Google Business for nuggets. Effective? Sure. Exhausting? Absolutely. So, I handed Manus the keys with this prompt:

I want you to find small businesses on Yelp, or on other sites like Google Business or even the Yellow Pages, and identify ones where the company has a low response rate, or simply receives bad reviews due to untimely phone answering or just not having enough ease of contact.

And holy smokes, Manus didn’t just sit there twiddling its digital thumbs. It kicked off like an eager intern desperate for a glowing LinkedIn recommendation. The task? It self-started immediately. No hand-holding required. It was like, “Oh, you want this? Say less — I’m on it.”

Roadblocks? No Problem

Manus AI impressed me with its handling of challenges. Facing an unclear review or dead end, it asked, “Your guidance here?” — a sharp, collaborative prompt. Otherwise, it forged ahead, crafting smart solutions like a seasoned pro.

It started with three leads — think a dubious plumber and an unresponsive Roto-Rooter crew. Solid, but I wanted more. “Scale it to 100+ leads,” I directed, envisioning a detailed list for analysis. Manus dove back in, scouring Yelp to Yellow Pages. Here’s a sample of a single lead:

[
	{
		"business_name": "4S Plumbing Companies",
		"owner": "William Taylor III",
		"phone": "(773) 353-3050",
		"email": "4splumbing@gmail.com",
		"website": "https://www.4splumber.com/",
		"address": "4064 North Lincoln Avenue, Chicago, IL 60618",
		"communication_issues": "Not answering calls or sending technicians; Poor communication with customers; Reviews mention owner that lies through communications; Customers report frustration with poor communication"
	}
]

That was just the warm-up. With my gauntlet thrown, Manus is now racing to stack a mountain of leads — 100+, as ordered. I’m itching to see the haul.

Room to Grow

It’s not flawless. I’d kill for Manus to get nosier — proactively nudging me with, “Want a deep dive on this sketchy pizza spot with 12 call-out rants?” It’s a touch too reactive now, but that’s a quibble in an otherwise stellar show.

And context length is a major flaw. If you want Manus to succeed in a long, highly contextual, complex task, it may fail:

Or maybe it's not failing at all, the team behind Manus may simply want you to pay for a larger context window.

Why It’s a Game-Changer

I’m floored. Manus is a powerhouse — perfect for offloading tasks from niche data hunts to spreadsheet untangling. It’s like a brilliant wingman who skips the chit-chat and just delivers. OpenAI’s fading in my rearview — sorry, ChatGPT, I’ve moved on.

The Verdict

The AI arena’s still a brawl — Grok, Anthropic, and crew are slugging it out — but Manus? It’s the scrappy contender I’m rooting for. It dodges web traps, masters your system, and charges ahead fearlessly. If you crave a research ally that’s less corporate giant, more ingenious rogue, Manus is your pick.

I’m captivated, but until the context window is addressed — through either caching or context folding — it feels like 50 First Dates. And I'm Adam Sandler trying to get Drew Barrymore Manus to remember what we were doing every 24 hours.