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Alibaba's Tongyi Qianwen Head Lin Junyang Resigns After Leading Qwen Open Source Ecosystem
Recently, Lin Junyang, the head of Alibaba's Qwen team, announced his resignation via social media. He has not yet publicly disclosed his next career move, and Alibaba has not issued an official statement regarding the matter. According to sources close to the situation, the departure was abrupt, with no clear successor currently identified. Some of his duties may be assumed by external hires. The news has sparked significant reactions within the AI research and developer communities. Many researchers paid tribute using Qwen's signature "heart and elephant" emoji, with some drawing parallels between the impact of his exit and Sam Altman's departure from OpenAI.
At 32, Lin Junyang is the youngest P10-level technical leader at Alibaba. His career trajectory mirrors the rise of China's large model wave. A Peking University graduate with a cross-disciplinary background in computer science and foreign linguistics, he joined Alibaba's DAMO Academy in 2019 and was promoted four levels in just six years. Lin was a core contributor to the trillion-parameter M6 multimodal model and officially took the helm of the Tongyi Qwen series in late 2022. Under his leadership, the Qwen family established a comprehensive open-source ecosystem covering all parameter scales, setting a benchmark in the global open-source model arena.
Since 2024, following the departure of former head Zhou Chang to ByteDance, Lin Junyang's role in technology management and ecosystem development had become increasingly central. Beyond large language models, he founded a robotics and embodied intelligence team within his group in October 2025, aiming to advance AI into the physical world. Lin also boasts substantial academic credentials, with his research papers cited over 42,000 times. As the visionary behind the Qwen open-source system, his exit undoubtedly presents challenges for the continuity of Alibaba's large model strategy and its ability to retain top technical talent, highlighting the intense competition for experts in today's AI industry.
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So Lin Junyang is leaving Alibaba's Qwen team? That's a big move right after building up such a strong open-source ecosystem. Curious if he's jumping to a startup or going solo. Hope the Qwen project doesn't lose momentum without him. 🤔
Recently, Lin Junyang, the head of Alibaba's Qwen team, announced his resignation via social media. He has not yet publicly disclosed his next career move, and Alibaba has not issued an official statement regarding the matter. According to sources close to the situation, the departure was abrupt, with no clear successor currently identified. Some of his duties may be assumed by external hires. The news has sparked significant reactions within the AI research and developer communities. Many researchers paid tribute using Qwen's signature "heart and elephant" emoji, with some drawing parallels between the impact of his exit and Sam Altman's departure from OpenAI.
At 32, Lin Junyang is the youngest P10-level technical leader at Alibaba. His career trajectory mirrors the rise of China's large model wave. A Peking University graduate with a cross-disciplinary background in computer science and foreign linguistics, he joined Alibaba's DAMO Academy in 2019 and was promoted four levels in just six years. Lin was a core contributor to the trillion-parameter M6 multimodal model and officially took the helm of the Tongyi Qwen series in late 2022. Under his leadership, the Qwen family established a comprehensive open-source ecosystem covering all parameter scales, setting a benchmark in the global open-source model arena.
Since 2024, following the departure of former head Zhou Chang to ByteDance, Lin Junyang's role in technology management and ecosystem development had become increasingly central. Beyond large language models, he founded a robotics and embodied intelligence team within his group in October 2025, aiming to advance AI into the physical world. Lin also boasts substantial academic credentials, with his research papers cited over 42,000 times. As the visionary behind the Qwen open-source system, his exit undoubtedly presents challenges for the continuity of Alibaba's large model strategy and its ability to retain top technical talent, highlighting the intense competition for experts in today's AI industry.
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So Lin Junyang is leaving Alibaba's Qwen team? That's a big move right after building up such a strong open-source ecosystem. Curious if he's jumping to a startup or going solo. Hope the Qwen project doesn't lose momentum without him. 🤔
