Manus AI Tools That Every Researcher Needs

In this video, I take a deep dive into Manus AI, an emerging AI agent that promises to handle complex research tasks—from identifying gaps in literature to generating structured academic paper drafts. This isn’t just another chatbot. ▼ ▽ Sign up for my FREE newsletter Join 21,000+ email subscribers receiving the free tools and academic tips directly from me: https://academiainsider.com/newsletter/ ▼ ▽ MY TOP SELLING COURSE ▼ ▽ ▶ Become a Master Academic Writer With AI using my course: https://academy.academiainsider.com/courses/ai-writing-course What sets Manus AI apart is its ability to plan, execute, and adapt through a sequence of actions, mimicking the way a human might approach a long-form research task. I wanted to understand whether it actually lives up to the hype, so I put it through a series of real academic workflows to find out. I show you how I used Manus AI to analyze my own published papers, generate potential research directions, and even draft a peer-reviewed style article from nothing more than figures and captions. If you've ever wondered how to use Manus AI for serious research work, this video gives a clear, hands-on walkthrough—what worked, what didn’t, and where the limitations still exist. The Manus AI demo includes tasks like generating a full literature review, mapping out paper structures, and executing research logic in the background—something very few AI tools can do well. And while it’s far from perfect, the way the Manus AI agent breaks down tasks and visualizes its thinking process is genuinely useful, especially for those of us working in academia or starting a PhD. This isn’t just a Manus AI tutorial—it’s also a reflection on where agentic AI tools are headed and what that might mean for researchers in the near future. If you’re exploring the future of AI-powered research or considering tools that could reduce cognitive load and improve research productivity, this is one to watch. Let me know what you think, and if you've tried Manus AI, I’d love to hear how it's worked for you. ................................................ ▼ ▽ TIMESTAMPS 00:00 Intro 00:35 Manus AI 01:47 Can it Analyze Literature Gaps? 04:45 How it handles Literature Review 08:43 Creating Paper using Figures 14:08 Limitations 14:26 AI Image Generation 15:31 Common Bugs on Beta 16:59 Outro ................................................ ▼ ▽ Socials for shorts and reels Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/drandystapleton/ TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@drandystapleton