Alibaba’s Qwen tech lead slips after big AI push

Alibaba’s Qwen AI project has lost one of its flamboyant leaders just a day after the Chinese tech giant unveiled its tiny Qwen 3.5 smart device.

Junyang Lin, chief technology officer of Alibaba’s Qwen group, he said in a post on X on Tuesday that he is “stepping down” from the project, without explanation. He joined Alibaba in July 2019 and became a member of Qwen in April 2023, according to to his LinkedIn profile.

The sudden departure, which caught the eye of peers and industry colleagues, comes as global competition among AI developers is intensifying and companies are racing to build models against OpenAI, Google, and Anthropic.

Alibaba’s Qwen family has emerged as one of China’s most prominent AI initiatives, with recent releases posting results that often rival US leaders. The Chinese giant launched the brand in April 2023 and opened it for public use in September after receiving approval.

Alibaba to inform its Qwen 3.5 Small Model series on Monday, with four models starting at 0.8B, 2B, 4B, and 9B parts. The machines, the company said, are a variety of models designed for applications ranging from AI devices to light assistants. The launch caught the attention of people in the AI ​​community, including Elon Musk, himself he wrote on X that the species showed “increasing intelligence.”

Lin’s departure comes as Qwen’s team moves forward with new innovations, prompting reactions from colleagues and colleagues who described his role in the project as central.

Wenting Zhao, a research scientist at Qwen Group, he explained Lin’s departure as “the end of an era,” thanking him in a post on X for helping to advance the project by unlocking AI and engineering. Yuchen Jin, chief technology officer of AI Infrastructure Hyperbolic, he said Lin helped connect Qwen with the developer community around the world, recalling the late-night partnership with the team during the prototype launch. Tiezhen Wang, head of APAC ecosystem at Hugging Face, too he explained Lin’s departure as a “big loss” for the Qwen project.

The circumstances surrounding Lin’s departure are unclear. Lin did not respond to a request for comment.

Chen Cheng, who contributed to Qwen’s work, he wrote that he was “heartbroken” by the story. In his post on X, Cheng appears to be addressing Lin directly, writing, “I know quitting wasn’t your choice” and said the team had been working together on a model launch a few hours earlier.

Binyuan Hui, another member of the Qwen team has been changed his X profile to describe himself as “former MTS @Alibaba_Qwen.” However, it was not immediately clear if he left the company or when his change took place.

Alibaba did not respond to a request for comment on the reasons for the move or on the Qwen group’s leadership structure.