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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.

Apple confirmed it will restrict 'Full Disk Access' permissions on macOS specifically to mitigate risks from AI agents.

Previously used mainly for system backups, this permission allows apps to bypass privacy protections and read sensitive data like emails and messages. The rise of locally running AI agents has raised concerns about indiscriminate data scraping.

New rules will require users to take very explicit actions to grant such high-level access. This change is not yet present in the macOS 27.2 beta but is expected in future releases.

Google's new AI data center construction project in Muhos, Finland, is under regulatory investigation. According to Tom's Hardware, its local operator, Tuike Finland, allegedly cleared approximately 300 hectares (equivalent to 420 football fields) of forest before obtaining the mandatory environmental impact assessment.

Hanna Halmeenpaa, chair of the board of the Finnish Association for Nature Conservation, has filed a request to suspend operations, stating that even some nature preservation areas were logged. Google denies prematurely devastating the forest, asserting that tree felling was "in compliance with Forestry Act requirements" and that high-value nature zones were protected during forestry works.

This development is part of Google's €13 billion investment plan in Finland over the next two years. While the local mayor welcomes the economic growth, residents are concerned about environmental impacts, energy supply stability, and rising prices. There are no current reports indicating that preparation and construction work have ceased at the site.

OpenAI tests visual ads and adds measurement tools.

On Oct. 5, OpenAI announced a new visual ad format in ChatGPT. Testing begins in the U.S. with a small group of advertisers.

Ads appear inside image generation, are labeled and do not influence answers. OpenAI says ChatGPT reaches 1.2 billion people weekly.

OpenAI adds Hightouch, Tealium and LiveRamp integrations. It pilots brand-safety checks with DoubleVerify and Integral Ad Science. Incrementality work is early.

On October 2, Meta open-sourced the ESP32 firmware and Linux development kits for Muse Gadgets under the Apache 2.0 license, enabling developers to connect low-cost boards or Raspberry Pis to the Muse AI agent.

Previously confined to software chatbot interactions, this update allows Muse to control displays, sensors, and actuators, and even access local HTTP API devices via home network tunnels. Official documentation explicitly warns: community pairing lacks manufacturer verification, tokens are embedded in firmware, and tinkering may result in bricking or voided warranties.

Meta also launched the finished device Muse Home Link, a USB-C powered small gateway for connecting smart home devices like TVs and speakers. According to product lead Nat Friedman, the first batch of approximately 5,000 units is being distributed for free to US Muse subscribers, one per person, on a first-come-first-served basis.

Several major South Korean banks have reported customer data leaks from peripheral business systems, and the Financial Services Commission has launched an IT inspection across the entire financial industry.

Shinhan Bank's loan-agent inquiry system was attacked for three consecutive days from September 28, with data on 25,729 customers possibly exposed. KB Kookmin Bank said its staff mobile support system lost data on 119 customers, Hana Bank's sales support system involved 89, and BNK Busan Bank found on October 1 that personal data of 11 outsourced developers had leaked. None of the systems were core banking systems, but all had externally facing entry points.

FSC Secretary-General Shin Jin-chang called on banks to strengthen vulnerability checks on externally exposed systems, tighten authentication and access control, and share threat intelligence for a joint response. Some in Korea's cybersecurity community suspect attackers may have used AI agents to automate the attacks; the attacker's identity and methods remain unconfirmed.

The Hong Kong SAR Government has officially introduced a four-step "AI talent ladder" strategy to mitigate the impact of artificial intelligence on entry-level employment.

Kevin Choi Kit-ming, Permanent Secretary for Innovation, Technology and Industry, stated at the Global Youth Powerhouse Summit that the "entry-level shock" is real, as AI performs well in many routine tasks that once constituted graduates' first jobs, such as basic coding and first-line customer service.

The government views AI as a "catalyst, not a threat," aiming to enhance overall digital literacy at a "population scale" rather than shielding young people from the technology. The strategy is designed to guide emerging professionals from foundational literacy to industry leadership.

According to TechRadar, cybersecurity provider Decodo's latest research reveals that ChatGPT and Perplexity have entered the global top five most-scraped websites for the first time.

The analysis indicates ChatGPT accounted for 14% of observed activity, ranking third, while Perplexity accounted for 10%, ranking fifth. TikTok remains at the top with 18%.

Decodo CEO Vaidotas Juknys stated this marks a fundamental shift in data collection use cases: moving from scraping the web two years ago to see what people were searching for, to now scraping AI platforms to see what people are being told.

This conclusion is based on Decodo's own data analysis, which does not disclose sample size or methodology details, and represents a vendor's unilateral statement.

The system prompt for OpenAI's active code model, GPT-6 Sol Codex, has reportedly been leaked, with approximately 294,000 characters now public on GitHub.

According to IT Home, user @elder_plinius claims to have extracted the complete instruction set. The leaked content includes a strict ban list for "AI slop" words (such as delve, leverage) and mandates the use of ripgrep over grep for text searching.

The document also details long-context management strategies, such as using notes tools to save progress when token budgets are exhausted, and requires status updates every 60 seconds during tool execution. OpenAI has not officially commented on the leak, so its authenticity remains unverified.

Cohere North 2 adds token caps.

Its North Admin console tracks token use by user and agent, with tiers and alerts.

SiliconANGLE said Cohere framed this as a cost fix; no independent data.

Iterate.ai launched Lifeboat, an inference engine claiming to support 2,048 concurrent AI agent sessions on a single Nvidia RTX PRO 6000 GPU.

The engine boosts effective capacity by two to six times through key-value cache optimization and fair scheduling. It addresses memory overflow in long-context tasks by loading only necessary experts from mixture-of-experts models while keeping weights at full precision.

Each session runs in an isolated security capsule with hardware attestation for confidential computing. A free developer license is available, with the top-tier Confidential Computing edition priced at $499.99 per month.

Cohere and PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) announced a global alliance on October 5, launching first in Canada.

The partnership combines Cohere’s North agentic platform, enterprise models, and retrieval capabilities with PwC’s expertise in risk, regulation, and technology transformation. The goal is to help organizations identify high-value use cases and securely connect AI to trusted enterprise data.

The collaboration supports private cloud, on-premises, and air-gapped deployments to meet strict data sovereignty requirements in sectors like finance and public sector. No specific financial terms or initial client names were disclosed.