Manus 2.0 gives AI agents their own computer, their own email address, even their own phone number and budget. For Europe’s small businesses, the agent is starting to look less like a tool and more like a colleague you can brief and send off.
FROM THE EDITORS
The day a new colleague becomes useful is rarely the first day. It is the day they get their own login, their own email and a company card with a sensible limit. Until then, they have to ask you for everything.
Manus, the agent company Meta agreed to buy for a reported $2 billion, has just handed its agents that kit. “Manus 2.0 is not a version update,” the company writes. “It’s a new architecture, new products, and new capabilities.”
What is new
- A leaner engine. A new harness, Cascade, loads skills only when a task needs them. In one tested setup Manus reports 23 per cent fewer tokens, 28 per cent faster runs and 32 per cent lower cost.
- Work that starts itself. Automations can now be triggered by events, such as a new email, a calendar entry, a Slack message or a change in ad performance, not just by a timer.
- A computer that stays on. A paid Cloud Computer keeps long-running jobs alive, and Remote Control lets you instruct Manus from your phone and watch it work.
- A studio. Documents, spreadsheets, slides, websites, short video ads with an editable timeline, and even simple web games.
- Cue. A separate app, in invite-only early access, where each personal agent gets its own email, phone number, wallet and computer, can spend within a budget you set, and can take calls and leave you a summary.
Why it matters for a small firm
For a firm in Tallinn or Turin, the interesting part is not the video editor. It is the shift from asking an AI for help to briefing an agent and letting it get on with it. A new enquiry arrives by email, and an automation drafts the quote. An ad stops performing, and the agent flags it before the weekly meeting. That is real time handed back to the people who run the business.
The obvious caution comes with the same features. An agent with a wallet and a phone number needs the same rules as any new hire: a clear brief, a spending limit, and a manager who checks the work. Manus builds some of that in, with budgets you set and computer use limited to the files and apps you approve. The rest is ordinary good management.
What to try this week
- Pick one trigger. One event that should start a task: a new enquiry, a missed payment, a review.
- Set the limits first. Which files, which apps, how much it may spend. Write them down before you switch anything on.
- Keep a human on the send button for anything that reaches a customer, at least for the first month.
The first wave of AI answered questions. This wave takes errands. The firms that get the most from it will be the ones that brief their agents the way they would brief a good new colleague: clearly, kindly, and with a limit on the card.
More on Manus: everything we have written about Manus in the Signal Digital archive.
Sources
- Manus, “Introducing Manus 2.0” — https://manus.im/blog/introducing-manus-2-0
- eWeek, “Meta Makes $2 Billion Bet on AI Agents With Manus Acquisition” — https://www.eweek.com/news/meta-acquires-manus-2b/
Leave a Reply