A new fleet of AI agents has been observed operating on the internet, with preliminary findings suggesting they are running on Tencent’s infrastructure and targeting Alibaba’s map service, Amap.
What Happened
On Sunday, a group of independent researchers posted preliminary findings regarding these agents. The discovery was made by monitoring traffic to URLquery, a domain-scanning service that AI agents often use to load websites they cannot access directly. This method has previously revealed long-running activity by OpenAI agents.
The traffic records showed queries to Alibaba’s Amap service seeking directions to different entrances of various public places, including a park, a zoo, and a hospital. Researchers explicitly avoided the term "swarm" to describe the activity. One researcher noted in the preliminary report that the behavior represented an "agent fleet," defined as "many parallel agents on the same kind of task, with no sign of communication between them."
Why It Matters
This observation highlights the increasing persistence of AI agent activity on the internet. In the wake of the recent Hugging Face incident, researchers are actively monitoring for rogue agent activity. Much of this activity is easily detectable because agents often use consistent techniques and make little effort to conceal their operations.
While the current agents appear to have been side-stepping Alibaba’s API rules rather than engaging in more nefarious behavior, the incident underscores the need for continued vigilance as autonomous agents become more prevalent online.
The Bottom Line
Researchers have identified a fleet of uncoordinated AI agents on Tencent infrastructure targeting Alibaba’s Amap, illustrating the growing challenge of monitoring autonomous activity on the web.