Manus and Lin Junyang are back
Source: Tencent Technology Author: Joanne Editor: Su Yang On August 12, two star projects and characters that have received a lot of attention in the AI community announced their return. On August 11, local time in the US, AI startup Manus issued a notice to users stating that the company will “soon resume operating as an independent company.” As part of the separation from Meta, data generated by some users on or after December 29, 2025 will be removed in accordance with regulatory requirements. According to the company's notice, affected users are required to complete data backup by 7:59 Singapore time on August 23. From August 23 to August 24, the relevant data will be deleted and affected accounts will be temporarily inaccessible. Starting at 8 o'clock Singapore time on August 25, users can restore previously backed up data and re-use the service. Manus said the adjustments were not due to data breaches or security incidents, but rather measures taken to meet regulatory requirements in specific jurisdictions as the company resumed independent operations. Unaffected users can continue to use the service normally without taking any action. A few hours later, another important return news came from Lin Junyang. The former technical leader of Alibaba's Qwen project announced the establishment of an AI lab Pragmatik (p7k) Labs (pragmatic technology) in Shanghai to focus on research on next-generation intelligence in the digital and physical worlds. Both are intelligent projects, involving the return of a company and the restarting of a technology leader, but they all point to the same change: AI competition is extending from the model's ability itself to how the model can use tools, adapt to the environment, and complete actual tasks. The Meta acquisition has entered the cancellation phase. Manus's deal with Meta began on December 29, 2025. On the same day, Meta announced plans to buy Manus. The company was founded in 2022 and initially developed in China before moving to Singapore, where it mainly develops AI smart products. The two sides did not announce the amount of the deal at the time, but previous reports indicated that the deal was about US$2 billion, and the total potential value, including employee retention arrangements, could reach US$2.5 billion. Following the completion of the acquisition, Meta plans to apply Manus' AI agent technology to its consumer and enterprise products to enhance AI business capabilities. However, the deal subsequently received regulatory attention. On April 28, CCTV news reported that the Manus merger and acquisition case, which has received much attention from all parties, has landed, and the China Foreign Investment Safety Review Working Mechanism Office (National Development and Reform Commission) made a decision prohibiting foreign investment in the acquisition of the Manus project according to law and regulations, requiring the parties to cancel the acquisition transaction. Since then, Manus and Meta have begun to push ahead with the separation of operations and stopped sharing data between the two sides. According to previous information, the two sides completed the separation at the operational level in May. Currently, Manus is completing the final stages of data processing and preparations for independent operation. This data adjustment mainly relates to data generated on and after December 29, 2025. Manus said the relevant data was deleted to meet regulatory requirements. The company has launched data backup and recovery tools to help affected users keep task records. Affected users can back up multiple times during the backup window. If users continue to generate new task data after completing the first backup, they need to back up again to ensure that the latest data is saved. Manus said affected users will not be charged during the backup period. Once the account is reinstated, the company will also provide a return bonus. For users registered with an Apple ID or Facebook account, since Manus may not have a corresponding email address, the company reminds users to pay attention to in-app notifications. The company behind Manus's founding team and product line Manus is Butterfly Effect, founded in 2022. Founder Xiao Hong previously worked in enterprise software development for a long time. According to data, he studied software engineering at Huazhong University of Science and Technology. After graduating in 2015, he founded Wuhan Nightingale Technology. Its WeChat tools “Yipan Assistant” and “WeChat Assistant” serve more than 2 million commercial users. Butterfly Effect then launched Monica, an AI assistant product that integrates the capabilities of multiple language models. Manus...