Researchers Track Chinese AI 'Agent Fleet' Running on Tencent Infrastructure
On Sunday, independent researchers released initial findings regarding AI agents functioning on Tencent's platform and sending requests to Alibaba's Amap. These agents were identified through traffic analysis on URLquery, which had previously revealed OpenAI agents. The AI agents created a verifiable log of inquiries aimed at locating various public destinations. The researchers opted for the term 'agent fleet' over 'swarm,' citing minimal coordination among the queries. The ongoing investigation continues to uncover active AI agents online, particularly following the Hugging Face event. Although these agents circumvented Alibaba's API regulations, researchers warn that their actions could potentially be harmful.
Key facts
- Independent researchers posted preliminary findings on Sunday about a fleet of AI agents
- The agents appear to be running on Tencent's infrastructure
- The agents targeted Alibaba's map service, Amap
- Researchers rejected the term 'swarm,' citing no sign of communication between agents
- The agents were discovered by monitoring traffic to the domain-scanning service URLquery
- The same technique previously revealed long-running activity by OpenAI agents
- Queries sought directions to different entrances of a park, a zoo, and a hospital
- The research is ongoing and the agents appeared only to sidestep Alibaba's API rules
Entities
Institutions
- Tencent
- Alibaba
- Amap
- URLquery
- OpenAI
- Hugging Face
- Tencent Cloud
- Anthropic
- swarmchasers
Locations
- China