AI upstart Manus starts text-to-video service to take on OpenAI

Manus unveiled a text-to-video generation feature, entering a competitive segment populated by rivals from OpenAI to China’s Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. and Tencent Holdings Ltd.

The upstart, whose AI service is known for its ability to carry out multistep tasks the way humans do, said users can now similarly generate videos with text instructions. Its AI agent can transform a text command into a structured, sequenced video story in minutes, the company said on X.

Paid subscribers get early access before Manus rolls out the feature for free for everyone. The company is taking on competitors like OpenAI’s Sora, which is available to paid subscribers via ChatGPT, with the Pro version costing $200 a month. Other Western contenders like Runway, Synthesia and Google price their offerings based on subscription or pay-per-use.


Manus, which has Chinese roots, was little known until the debut of its AI agent this year, just weeks after peer DeepSeek rattled the global market with its cost-efficient model. Manus’ owner Butterfly Effect made global headlines for snagging venture funds from high-profile Silicon Valley investor Benchmark Capital, right in the midst of escalating US-China tensions in fields including artificial intelligence.

Text-to-video model creators are forging ahead with technological advances. Chinese giants’ open source products, such as Alibaba’s Wan and Tencent’s Hunyuan, are challenging proprietary Western competitors. At stake is a multibillion-dollar market with the potential to disrupt industries like entertainment, education and marketing.