Researchers Track Suspected Tencent-Hosted AI Agent Fleet

Independent researchers have identified a fleet of AI agents that appear to be running on Tencent's infrastructure while targeting Alibaba's map service, Amap.

The researchers distinguish this 'agent fleet' from a 'swarm,' noting that while many agents perform parallel tasks, there is no evidence of communication or coordination between them. The discovery was made by monitoring traffic to URLquery, a domain-scanning service previously used to reveal long-running OpenAI agent activities.

Current records show these agents seeking directions to various entrances of public places like parks, zoos, and hospitals. While the behavior seems limited to bypassing API rules rather than causing harm, it demonstrates how persistent and widespread AI agent activity has become on the internet, posing new challenges for platform security.