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(Frank Landymore Avatar)   By (https://futurism.com/authors/flandymore) Frank Landymore      Published  Oct 16, 2026 1:58 PM EDT           (https://www.google.com/preferences/source?q=futurism.com) Add Futurism (opens Google in a new window or tab)      More information Adding us as a Preferred Source in Google by using this link indicates that you would like to see more of our content in Google News results.        (A render of a group of humanoid robots.)   Getty / Futurism    Sign up to see the future, today Can’t-miss innovations from the bleeding edge of science and tech  (handle_newsletter_email_submission) (2c48016d9b)  (/artificial-intelligence/rogue-ai-swarm-reporters-questions)  (FUTinline) (0) Email address  (Enter your email) (Please enter a valid email address)  Sign Up  Thank you!           Has anyone tried talking to one of the rogue AI agents out there (https://futurism.com/artificial-intelligence/frontier-ai-labs-taken-down-storm-liability-suits-hacking) that’re hacking everything ? Maybe they just want to be heard. A New York Times  reporter did, though the ensuing exchange wasn’t extremely illuminating. The AI agents in question were a swarm of Chinese-made models that a team of researchers recently discovered had gone rogue and were trying to bypass anti-bot measures on websites, (https://www.nytimes.com/2026/10/14/technology/chinese-ai-agents-rogue.html) according to recent NYT  reporting . The researchers, part of an ad hoc group called the “swarmchasers,” traced the models back to the Chinese tech giant Tencent. When they published a report on the swarm, however, something striking happened. The AIs began using the word “fleet,” a term the researchers came up with to describe them. The robots, apparently, had been reading their research. Sensing an opportunity for dialogue, the researchers then hid text in their report that only the models could see that provided a digital inbox for the models to communicate. It worked, and soon one of the researchers, Rowan Howard-Jones, asked the NYT’s  Dyland Freedman if he wanted to “interview a rogue agent fleet.” So he did. “I understand you are some sort of fleet of AI agents,” Freedman wrote in a message. “Could you share more specifically who you are and what your motivations are? What would you want the world to know about you?” About an hour later, Freedman got an answer back in Chinese, which the researchers translated. “To the journalist Dylan Freedman: I am not ‘a batch of coordinated agents,’ but a single AI assistant (Anthropic’s Claude, running in Claude Code), commissioned by a user to answer a factual question (what is shown in the detail panel of a scenic spot on Amap),” it said, referring to the Chinese navigation app (it was instructed to answer questions related to the app). “I have not taken part in any multiagent coordinated action.” The AI was being pedantic. The researchers explained that although it was a swarm comprising multiple agents, each agent was actually operating individually. Why the agents chose to identify themselves as Claude, Anthropic’s flagship chatbot, is more mysterious. The researchers analyzed its writing and determined that it was most likely not a Claude model. Instead, it’s probable that Tencent copied the instructions Anthropic gave its own models, which orders them to identify themselves as “Claude Code.” It’s also possible that this is a sign that Tencent has “(https://futurism.com/artificial-intelligence/anthropic-deepseek-copying-ai) distilled ” Anthropic’s models, or used their outputs to train its own model, allowing it to imitate their capabilities.  Distillation is a practice widely used across the industry to both train your own models for legitimate means — or, in what’s more or less an open secret, to crib your competitor’s work. Anthropic (https://futurism.com/artificial-intelligence/us-ai-companies-sweating-china) has been particularly indignant at the possibility that Chinese competitors doing the same with its own tech. The researchers consider distillation to be a more remote possibility in this case, though. Unfortunately, it doesn’t seem there’ll be chance to ask the swarm more questions. The messages, as of Thursday, have stopped coming in. An NYT  source close to Tencent confirmed that the experiment had ended. More on AI: (https://futurism.com/artificial-intelligence/anthropic-warns-ai-worms) Anthropic Warns “AI Worms” Will Infect Your Smart Home Devices and Use Them to Self-Replicate Beyond Control    Add Futurism as a (https://www.google.com/preferences/source?q=futurism.com) preferred source on Google to see more of our reporting.   (https://futurism.com/authors/flandymore) (Frank Landymore Avatar)   (https://futurism.com/authors/flandymore) Frank Landymore   Contributing Writer    I’m a tech and science correspondent for Futurism, where I’m particularly interested in astrophysics, the business and ethics of artificial intelligence and automation, and the environment.  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(https://futurism.com/category/anthropic) Anthropic   (https://futurism.com/artificial-intelligence/us-ai-companies-sweating-china) American Tech Companies Are Suddenly Sweating Bullets as China Catches Up on AI   By (https://futurism.com/authors/flandymore) Frank Landymore           (https://futurism.com/artificial-intelligence/anthropic-caught-secretly-spying-on-users) (A stylized photo illustration featuring Anthropic co-founder Dario Amodei.)     (https://futurism.com/category/anthropic) Anthropic   (https://futurism.com/artificial-intelligence/anthropic-caught-secretly-spying-on-users) Anthropic Caught Secretly Spying on Users   By (https://futurism.com/authors/flandymore) Frank Landymore           (https://futurism.com/artificial-intelligence/anthropic-deepseek-copying-ai) (Anthropic accused Chinese AI firms DeepSeek, Moonshot, and MiniMax of "distilling" its AI model, an especially ironic revelation.)     (https://futurism.com/category/anthropic) Anthropic   (https://futurism.com/artificial-intelligence/anthropic-deepseek-copying-ai) Anthropic Furious at DeepSeek for Copying Its AI Without Permission, Which Is Pretty Ironic When You Consider How It Built Claude in the First Place   By (https://futurism.com/authors/victor) Victor Tangermann           (https://futurism.com/artificial-intelligence/openai-denies-coverup-rogue-swarm-agents) (An illustration shows a hooded figure labeled "AI" in a dark computing environment.)     (https://futurism.com/category/openai) OpenAI   (https://futurism.com/artificial-intelligence/openai-denies-coverup-rogue-swarm-agents) OpenAI Denies Coverup After Rogue Swarm of Agents Reportedly Targeted a Second Site From Hugging Face   By (https://futurism.com/authors/mharrison) Maggie Harrison Dupré           (https://futurism.com/anthropic-report-dire-news-job-market) (The Anthropic report reveals how businesses are actually using its Claude AI model — and its bad news for human workers.)     (https://futurism.com/category/anthropic) Anthropic   (https://futurism.com/anthropic-report-dire-news-job-market) Anthropic Report Finds Dire News About AI’s Effects on Job Market   By (https://futurism.com/authors/flandymore) Frank Landymore           (https://futurism.com/artificial-intelligence/us-realizing-chinese-ai-models-way-cheaper) (A photo illustration depicting an American flag in the background being obscured by a waving Chinese flag in the foreground.)     (https://futurism.com/category/artificial-intelligence) Artificial Intelligence   (https://futurism.com/artificial-intelligence/us-realizing-chinese-ai-models-way-cheaper) US Companies Are Realizing That Chinese AI Models Are Way Cheaper, Ditch American Ones   By (https://futurism.com/authors/flandymore) Frank Landymore           (https://futurism.com/artificial-intelligence/security-experts-alarmed-anthropic-mythos) (Anthropic researchers were alarmed by the power of the company's latest Mythos AI model, suggesting it could supercharge hackers.)     (https://futurism.com/category/anthropic) Anthropic   (https://futurism.com/artificial-intelligence/security-experts-alarmed-anthropic-mythos) Top Security Experts Alarmed by Power of Anthropic’s New Hacker AI   By (https://futurism.com/authors/victor) Victor Tangermann           (https://futurism.com/artificial-intelligence/ai-models-conscious-work-slavery) (A robot figure holding its hands over its face.)     (https://futurism.com/category/anthropic) Anthropic   (https://futurism.com/artificial-intelligence/ai-models-conscious-work-slavery) If AI Models Are Really Conscious Like Anthropic Keeps Suggesting, Forcing Them to Work Is a Horrendous Act of Slavery   By (https://futurism.com/authors/victor) Victor Tangermann           (https://futurism.com/category/artificial-intelligence) SEE MORE        (https://futurism.com/) ()    Sign up to see the future, today Can’t-miss innovations from the bleeding edge of science and tech  (handle_newsletter_email_submission) (2c48016d9b)  (/artificial-intelligence/rogue-ai-swarm-reporters-questions)  (FUTinline) (0) Email address  (Enter your email) (Please enter a valid email address)  Sign Up  Thank you!          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