China has blocked the boss of an artificial intelligence startup from leaving the country after the company was acquired by Meta, according to a media report.
The chief executive of Manus Xiao Hong and chief scientist Ji Yichao were told they could not leave China while regulators review the acquisition, the Financial Times reported.
Meta said in December it would acquire Manus to boost its AI development. Manus catapulted onto the tech sphere when it unveiled what it called the “world’s first fully autonomous AI”.
The company was dubbed as China’s next DeepSeek and said its AI agent could buy property, program video games, analyse stocks, and plan travel itineraries.
Manus’ creator said in a video last year that it is more than "just another chatbot or workflow... It's a completely autonomous agent".
Shortly after the acquisition was announced in December, China’s commerce ministry said it would investigate whether the deal complied with local laws and regulations.
Hong said the move would allow the company to “build on a stronger, more sustainable foundation without changing how Manus works or how decisions are made".
