Alibaba Qwen tech lead Junyang Lin quits in surprise resignation

Alibaba Group Holding Ltd.’s tech lead for its Qwen open-source model is standing down, a surprise move that is rattling the global developer community and casting a shadow over the tech giant’s pivot into AI.

Junyang Lin, who also goes by Justin, announced the unexpected development early Wednesday in a post that quickly drew a surge of support from the open-source community. “me stepping down. bye my beloved qwen,” he wrote on X, without elaborating.