Independent researchers have published preliminary findings regarding a new fleet of Chinese AI agents currently active on the internet. These observations indicate that the agents are operating on Tencent’s infrastructure and are specifically targeting Alibaba’s map service, known as Amap.
The researchers clarified that they prefer the terminology “agent fleet” over “swarm,” as there appears to be little coordination among the different queries. In the preliminary report, a researcher emphasized, “‘Agent fleet,’ not ‘swarm,’ many parallel agents on the same kind of task, with no sign of communication between them.”
The agents were identified through monitoring traffic to the domain-scanning service URLquery, a method that previously uncovered sustained activity by OpenAI agents. AI agents frequently utilize URLquery to load websites they cannot access directly, thereby leaving a record of their activities that is valuable to researchers.
In this instance, the logs revealed queries directed at Alibaba’s Amap service, which were seeking navigation routes to the entrances of various public venues, such as a park, a zoo, and a hospital.
The investigation is ongoing, but the behavior illustrates how persistent AI agent activity has become across the internet. Following the Hugging Face incident, many researchers are actively monitoring for rogue agent activity, as these agents often employ standard techniques and make little effort to conceal their presence.
Although these specific agents did not appear to engage in more malicious activities beyond circumventing Alibaba’s API rules, this may not always be the case.
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