The Globe and Mail reports in its Wednesday edition that Meta Platforms is planning to acquire Chinese-founded artificial-intelligence start-up Manus, as the tech giant accelerates efforts to integrate advanced AI across its platforms. A Reuters dispatch to The Globe says financial terms of its transaction with Manus were not released, but a source with direct knowledge of the matter said the deal values the Singapore-based firm at between $2-billion (U.S.) and $3-billion (U.S.). Manus created a stir this year after it released what it claimed was the world's first general AI agent, capable of making decisions and executing tasks autonomously, with much less prompting required than AI chatbots such as ChatGPT and DeepSeek. That drove commentators to call it China's next DeepSeek, and it was cheered by Chinese state television. The company months later moved its headquarters from China to Singapore, joining a wave of other Chinese companies that have done so to curb risks from U.S.-China tensions. The company, whose products are not available in China, claims its AI agent's performance surpasses that of OpenAI's DeepResearch. It also has a strategic partnership with Alibaba, collaborating on their AI models.