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In focus
For this edition, we cover:
- Can Manus – the agentic AI platform – measure up to the media hype?
- How Temu is working to stay afloat despite Trump’s tariffs
- Meet BillionBricks in our new Beyond the Bottom Line series
Hello reader,
Is the internet really going to last or is it just hype? Chrome or Explorer? Samsung or Apple? What’s a cloud? Should I buy bitcoin? Is AI going to kill us all?
As a tech reporter, you get asked a lot of questions. But hey, that’s just part of the job. And frankly, we love it, usually because tech companies give us access to their new toys, just so we can write about them.
But last year, I found myself struggling with a new question: what is agentic AI?
I usually tell people that it means “text to action.” For an AI to be an agent, it has to get its digital butt off the coach and go do something.
The problem with that answer is that “something” is pretty broad. If finding information on the internet is agentic, so is the AI that drives robot vacuums or processes a refund online.
A better way to understand more about agents is to use one, which is where Manus steps in.
Manus claims to be the world’s first “general AI agent,” but that technically isn’t the case. It’s actually a platform that manages a bunch of AI agents that are working together to do… stuff, like schedule a vacation or doing financial research.
So in today’s first Top Story, we tested Manus’s abilities. What we found was pretty revealing about the state of agentic AI.
While AI agents are rife with opportunities, ecommerce platforms – especially those whose supply chains originate in China – are facing challenges, thanks to US President Donald Trump’s tariffs. One of the first casualties is Temu, the app that promised to bring Chinese goods directly from the factory to US consumers.
Thus, we take a look at why Temu’s business model was so susceptible to Trump’s tariffs, and what its struggles say about where ecommerce goes from here.
Scott Shuey, editor
Top Stories
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