Researchers Track AI Agent Fleet Querying Alibaba Amap via Tencent Cloud

An independent research group known as the Swarmchasers says it has identified a new “agent fleet” operating on the internet, with preliminary evidence showing AI agents querying Alibaba’s Amap service through infrastructure linked to Tencent Cloud.

Researchers Alecto Irene Perez and Ethan Elasky, CEO of Palaestra Research, led the preliminary investigation, with contributions from other independent security and AI researchers. The team uses the term “agent fleet” rather than “swarm” because it found no evidence that the agents communicated or coordinated with one another.

Researchers found the activity through urlquery

The Swarmchasers discovered the activity by monitoring traffic to urlquery, a domain-scanning service AI agents can use to load websites they cannot access directly. The logs showed repeated requests to Alibaba’s Amap mapping service, including directions to different entrances of public locations such as a park, zoo and hospital.

The traffic appeared to use Tencent infrastructure, although that does not establish who was operating the agents. The investigation is ongoing, and so far there is no evidence the activity was destructive or malicious.

The researchers currently interpret the agents as using intermediary tools to work around Alibaba’s normal API restrictions.

The finding adds to scrutiny of internet-connected AI agents

The discovery adds to growing scrutiny of autonomous AI systems operating on the open internet. Previous investigations have shown that agents often use recognisable tools and leave traces of their activity behind, making it possible for researchers to monitor some of their behaviour.

Even if this case proves limited in scope, it offers another example of AI agents carrying out persistent online tasks outside tightly controlled environments.