Manus 2.0 adds video editing, multiplayer games and phone-based agents

By Splitfeed EditorialLast updated Sep 29, 2026, 09:00 UTC

On September 29, 2026, Manus released version 2.0 of its AI agent platform, adding three notable capabilities: video editing, the ability to host multiplayer games, and personal agents that can be assigned dedicated phone numbers and operated remotely from a smartphone. The update represents a deliberate repositioning of Manus from a single-purpose AI agent tool into something closer to a general-purpose platform. No pricing, regional availability, or statements from named individuals accompanied the announcement.

The shift matters because it signals a broader ambition in the AI agent space. Giving an AI agent a phone number and remote operability moves the product closer to the idea of a persistent, always-on digital assistant that acts in the world on a user's behalf, not just within a browser session. Video editing and multiplayer game hosting suggest Manus is chasing consumer and creative use cases simultaneously, which is an unusually wide surface area for a single platform update. What remains genuinely in dispute is whether bundling this many capabilities into one release reflects confident product maturity or an attempt to generate attention without the depth any single feature would need to stand on its own.

None of the three camps have published reactions to this story yet. The Pro-AI camp would typically treat a release like this as evidence that AI agents are moving beyond narrow tasks toward genuine general utility, pointing to the phone-number feature as a milestone in autonomous operation. The Anti-AI camp would likely raise concerns about the implications of agents with persistent identities, phone access, and remote control, framing those features as new vectors for misuse or surveillance. The Middle Ground camp would probably call for specifics around pricing, data handling, and the actual reliability of each feature before drawing conclusions about what the platform genuinely delivers.

The details worth watching are any follow-up announcements covering pricing tiers, which markets gain access first, and independent assessments of how well the video editing and game-hosting features perform at scale. How Manus handles the privacy questions around phone-number-assigned agents will likely shape how regulators and critics engage with the platform going forward.