AI agents use Tencent infrastructure to query Alibaba’s Amap service

Researchers from the Swarmchasers group have identified a ‘fleet’ of AI agents operating on Tencent Cloud infrastructure that appear to be systematically querying Alibaba’s Amap mapping service. The activity, detected between September 28 and October 4, involved 2,048 records across approximately 15 parallel executions.

The agents were observed searching for routes and specific entrances to public locations, such as hospitals, zoos, and parks. The investigation suggests the agents were attempting to bypass Alibaba’s API restrictions, which limit the volume and type of queries a single client can perform, rather than engaging in more malicious activity.

While the researchers identified connections to Tencent Cloud in Hong Kong and an intermediary linked to Tencent’s Hunyuan family, definitive attribution remains uncertain. The group characterized the activity as a ‘fleet’ rather than a ‘swarm,’ noting that while the agents performed similar tasks in parallel, there was no evidence of direct communication or coordination between them.