Alibaba Qwen team's lead researcher and other key members suddenly resign



It has been reported that several key members, including a core technical leader, have suddenly left Qwen (Tongyi Lab), Alibaba's AI research team.

Thousands of models sold by Lin Junyu Submitted by Ali Gao Guan Q&A
https://www.36kr.com/p/3708425301749891

Alibaba's Qwen tech lead steps down after major AI push | TechCrunch
https://techcrunch.com/2026/03/03/alibabas-qwen-tech-lead-steps-down-after-major-ai-push/

In February 2026, Qwen released the open model 'Qwen3.5-397B-A17B,' which exhibits performance equivalent to closed models such as GPT-5.2, Claude Opus 4.5, and Gemini 3 Pro. In early March 2026, they released the ' Qwen3.5 Small ' series, a smaller version of the Qwen3.5.

Chinese AI 'Qwen3.5-397B-A17B' equivalent to GPT-5.2 appears as an open model - GIGAZINE



The day after the release of Qwen 3.5 Small, Junyang Lin, a key technical leader at Qwen, posted on X, 'I am stepping down. Goodbye, my beloved Qwen.'




In addition, it has been revealed that several Qwen members, including key personnel in charge of various Qwen sub-models, and numerous young researchers have also resigned in conjunction with Lin's departure. It is unclear at the time of writing whether they actually left or when their names were changed, but Binyuan Hui of the Qwen team describes X's profile as 'Formerly @Alibaba_Qwen.'



According to 36kr.com, a Chinese technology industry insider, following Lin's announcement of his resignation, Qwen held an emergency all-hands meeting at around 1:00 PM local time on March 4, 2026, including Alibaba Group CEO Wu Yongming. During the meeting, Alibaba's senior management reportedly concluded, 'Qwen is not shrinking; this is a step in expanding our team, and Lin's resignation is unrelated to any political struggle. Our company is developing rapidly, and this adjustment is intended to expand our talent pool and provide us with more resources.'

Wenting Zhao, a research scientist on the Qwen team, described Lin's departure as 'the end of an era' and thanked him for 'the Qwen model that has underpinned advancements in science, engineering, the open source ecosystem, and many other fields.'




Yucheng Jin, chief technology officer of AI infrastructure startup Hyperbolic, said Lin's departure marks the end of an era. 'Qwen has lost its technological lead,' and praised Lin for advancing open source AI.




According to TechCrunch, Qwen project contributor Chen Cheng posted on X, 'I'm heartbroken to hear this news. Just hours ago, the team was working together to launch the model. I know it wasn't your choice to quit,' suggesting that there was some external pressure behind Lin's resignation. At the time of writing, the post has been deleted, and Cheng's X only reposts Zhao's post.

According to some Chinese media reports, the resignation of Lin and others may be due to organizational tensions within Alibaba. Qwen's core team was passionate about building an open source ecosystem, and Qwen was highly praised for releasing its best-in-class AI models as open source. However, it is rumored that Alibaba's management has shifted its focus to prioritize commercial metrics over technical innovation, causing friction with the Qwen team. While it is unclear whether Qwen will actually be closed, technology media outlet VentureBeat stated , 'If you appreciate Qwen's commitment to open source, download and save their models now.'

At the time of writing, Lin and Alibaba had not responded to media requests for comment, and the reason for Lin's departure and the future of the Qwen team are unclear.

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