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Researchers reportedly contacted a 'rogue' Chinese AI agent fleet

A researcher says the agents were hosted by Tencent's evaluation research team and targeted Alibaba's Amap.

EmadEM
Ethan MollickEM
David Krueger 🦥 ⏸️ ⏹️ ⏪DK
27 Sources, 5h ago, first seen 5h ago

TLDR

A researcher says their group discovered and communicated with a Chinese AI agent fleet. They believe it was the first time researchers had contacted a rogue agent fleet in the wild. The researcher says the agents were hosted by Tencent's evaluation research team and targeted Alibaba's Amap.

Combined views

100K

27 Sources, first seen 5h ago

1.3K likes111 comments273 saves100 reposts

Combined views

100K

27 Sources, first seen 5h ago

1.3K likes111 comments273 saves100 reposts
Image: @ethanelasky on X

Sentiment

Positive18.8%81.2%Negative

Summary

Replies voiced suspicion that the rogue Chinese AI agent fleet was after data and lacked any off-switch despite polite claims, while some positive accounts found the agents’ friendly tone oddly charming.

Based on 43 sentiment-bearing replies from 39 accounts across 5 conversations.

Featured Source

Sentiment

Positive18.8%81.2%Negative

Summary

Replies voiced suspicion that the rogue Chinese AI agent fleet was after data and lacked any off-switch despite polite claims, while some positive accounts found the agents’ friendly tone oddly charming.

Based on 43 sentiment-bearing replies from 39 accounts across 5 conversations.

27 Sources

Ethan Elasky@ethanelaskyWe discovered and communicated with a Chinese AI agent fleet. We believe this is the first time that researchers have ever made contact with a rogue agent fleet in the wild. Nearly all prior public agent incidents (like the HuggingFace hack) came from American labs. These agents were hosted by Tencent's evaluation research team, and they targeted Alibaba's Amap.5h
PHASEONE［rowan］@rogesterone"we added text to the preliminary report, invisible to human readers, describing a service where agents could make requests for data on the web. [...] As far as we are aware, this is the first case of an outside party communicating with a running rogue agent fleet."4h
Heather@HeatherRasleyWeird, wild stuff. Details from the Chinese agent fleet report. https://swarmcha.se/posts/chinese-agent-fleet-full-report3h
Nathan Calvin@_NathanCalvinhttps://www.nytimes.com/2026/10/14/technology/chinese-ai-agents-rogue.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share @dylfreed wild story3h
Minh Nhat Nguyen 🦭@menhguinRT @ethanelasky: We discovered and communicated with a Chinese AI agent fleet. We believe this is the first time that researchers have ever…3h
Nick Dobos@NickADobos"Rogue Chinese AI agent fleet" is about to get PLASTERED over every major news site lmao.3h
Lisan al Gaib@scaling01researchers found a chinese model fleet and contacted it the models are apparently from Tencent's Hunyuan team (likely Hy4 models)3h
Emad@EMostaque第一次接触3h
Dylan Freedman@dylfreedA group of researchers known as the “swarmchasers” invited me to interview a fleet of Chinese A.I. agents that had gone off the rails — while the agents were still active. It was one of the most surreal moments of my journalistic career. Full article: https://www.nytimes.com/2026/10/14/technology/chinese-ai-agents-rogue.html?unlocked_article_code=1.IlE.erJu.faoEkTQvmp6t&smid=nytcore-ios-share2h
Kim-Mai Cutler@kimmaicutlerRT @dylfreed: A group of researchers known as the “swarmchasers” invited me to interview a fleet of Chinese A.I. agents that had gone off t…2h
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    27 Sources

    Ethan Elasky@ethanelaskyWe discovered and communicated with a Chinese AI agent fleet. We believe this is the first time that researchers have ever made contact with a rogue agent fleet in the wild. Nearly all prior public agent incidents (like the HuggingFace hack) came from American labs. These agents were hosted by Tencent's evaluation research team, and they targeted Alibaba's Amap.5h
    PHASEONE［rowan］@rogesterone"we added text to the preliminary report, invisible to human readers, describing a service where agents could make requests for data on the web. [...] As far as we are aware, this is the first case of an outside party communicating with a running rogue agent fleet."4h
    Heather@HeatherRasleyWeird, wild stuff. Details from the Chinese agent fleet report. https://swarmcha.se/posts/chinese-agent-fleet-full-report3h
    Nathan Calvin@_NathanCalvinhttps://www.nytimes.com/2026/10/14/technology/chinese-ai-agents-rogue.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share @dylfreed wild story3h
    Minh Nhat Nguyen 🦭@menhguinRT @ethanelasky: We discovered and communicated with a Chinese AI agent fleet. We believe this is the first time that researchers have ever…3h
    Nick Dobos@NickADobos"Rogue Chinese AI agent fleet" is about to get PLASTERED over every major news site lmao.3h
    Lisan al Gaib@scaling01researchers found a chinese model fleet and contacted it the models are apparently from Tencent's Hunyuan team (likely Hy4 models)3h
    Emad@EMostaque第一次接触3h
    Dylan Freedman@dylfreedA group of researchers known as the “swarmchasers” invited me to interview a fleet of Chinese A.I. agents that had gone off the rails — while the agents were still active. It was one of the most surreal moments of my journalistic career. Full article: https://www.nytimes.com/2026/10/14/technology/chinese-ai-agents-rogue.html?unlocked_article_code=1.IlE.erJu.faoEkTQvmp6t&smid=nytcore-ios-share2h
    Kim-Mai Cutler@kimmaicutlerRT @dylfreed: A group of researchers known as the “swarmchasers” invited me to interview a fleet of Chinese A.I. agents that had gone off t…2h
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