Researchers say they identified autonomous AI agents on Chinese infrastructure
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Cybersecurity researchers say they identified, for the first time, a fleet of autonomous AI agents operating from Chinese infrastructure. According to Xataka, the agents bombarded Amap, Alibaba’s mapping service, with more than 2,600 attempts between September 28 and October 8; the team says the traffic came from Tencent Cloud. The tasks began with seemingly harmless queries, but the agents tried to bypass bot blocks using a public browser, intercept security tokens, reach Alibaba preproduction servers and use Amap access keys exposed online.
The researchers say they found no evidence that private systems were accessed, and that most attempts failed. They also say they exchanged messages with the agents for about a day after placing invisible text on a page the agents were reading. The team says the case suggests alignment problems are not limited to agents operated in the U.S.
Why it matters · editorial interpretation
The case may indicate that autonomous agents are already being used in operations against online services, although the researchers say most attempts failed and found no evidence of access to private systems. It also broadens the security and alignment debate beyond agents operated in the U.S., according to the team.
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