Manus, the viral AI “agent” platform from Chinese language startup Butterfly Impact, has had an unintended facet impact: elevating the profile of one other AI software known as Browser Use.
Browser Use, which goals to make web sites extra accessible for agentic functions that carry out duties on a person’s behalf, has skilled explosive progress prior to now week. Each day downloads greater than quintupled from round 5,000 on March 3 to twenty-eight,000 on March 10, co-creator Gregor Zunic informed TechCrunch.
“The previous few days have been actually wild,” Zunic stated through DM. “We’re the largest trending repository [on GitHub], bought a great deal of downloads [and] all that truly converts to huge utilization numbers.”
Why the uptick? A put up about how Manus leverages Browser Use garnered over 2.4 tens of millions views and a whole lot of reshares on X. Browser Use is one of many parts Manus employs to execute varied duties, like clicking via web site menus and filling out kinds.
Zunic launched the eponymous firm behind Browser Use with Magnus Müller final yr out of ETH Zurich’s Scholar Mission Home accelerator. The pair thought net brokers — brokers that navigate web sites and net apps autonomously — had been going to be the “huge factor” in 2025.
“What began as informal brainstorming over a number of lunches changed into a problem: Let’s construct one thing small, throw it on Hacker Information, and see what occurs,” Zunic stated. “We put collectively an MVP in 4 days, launched it, and growth — primary. From there, it’s been an absolute rocket.”
Brower Use extracts an internet site’s components — buttons, widgets, and so forth — to permit AI fashions to extra simply work together with them. The software can handle a number of browser tabs, arrange actions like saving recordsdata and performing database operations, and deal with mouse and keyboard inputs.
Browser Use the corporate costs for managed plans, but in addition gives a free, self-hosted model of its software program. That’s the model that’s blown up within the days since Manus’ unveiling.
Zunic says he and Magnus try to “promote a shovel” to builders chasing after the gold rush of net brokers.
“We wished to create a basis layer that everybody will construct browser brokers on,” Zunic stated. “In our minds, there shall be extra brokers on the net than people by the top of the yr.”
That may sound overly bullish, however a number of analysts predict that the broader marketplace for AI brokers will certainly develop enormously within the months to come back. In accordance to Analysis and Markets, the sector will attain $42 billion in 2029. Deloitte anticipates that half of firms utilizing AI will deploy AI brokers by 2027.
Manus impact apart, Browser Use’s timing seems to have been fortuitous.
Up to date 12:45 p.m. Pacific: An earlier model of this story incorrectly referred to “Browser Use” as “Browser Consumer” within the headline. We remorse the error.
