Manus AI Launches Text-to-Video Feature to Compete with OpenAI and Google

Manus AI Agent has introduced a text-to-video generation service that converts text prompts into fully structured and sequenced video stories. The new feature allows users to create videos by planning scenes, crafting visuals, and animating content based on a single prompt.

Introducing Manus video generation.

Manus transforms your prompts into complete stories—structured, sequenced, and ready to watch. With a single prompt, Manus plans each scene, crafts the visuals, and animates your vision. From storyboard creation to concept visualization—your… pic.twitter.com/2bOxSkyRv5

— ManusAI (@ManusAI_HQ) June 3, 2025

The company shared on X that the service is currently available for early access to Basic, Plus, and Pro subscribers, with plans to open it to all users soon.

This move directly challenges established offerings such as OpenAI’s Sora, which is available via ChatGPT Pro at $200 per month, along with other Western competitors like Runway, Synthesia, and Google, which use subscription or pay-per-use models.

Though relatively unknown until the release of its AI agent earlier this year, Manus quickly gained attention, especially after its parent company, Butterfly Effect, secured investment from prominent Silicon Valley firm Benchmark Capital amid rising US-China tensions in AI development. Manus AI recently partnered with Microsoft’s Azure AI Foundry as well.

Unlike traditional AI chatbots (e.g., ChatGPT, DeepSeek) that respond to prompts, Manus autonomously plans, executes, and completes complex multi-step tasks without continuous human input. It operates asynchronously in the cloud, allowing users to delegate tasks that continue running even when offline.

Manus uses a multi-agent system with specialised sub-agents for planning, execution, and knowledge retrieval, enabling it to break down and manage complex workflows autonomously.

Meanwhile, the text-to-video generation space is rapidly evolving, with Chinese tech giants Alibaba and Tencent pushing open-source alternatives that challenge proprietary Western models.