Alibaba has suspended one of the leaders involved in developing the AI model Qwen

Alibaba Qwen Loses Key Leader After Launching Model 3.5

After the release of open small models Qwen 3.5, Alibaba Qwen’s division unexpectedly lost one of its most prominent leaders. Junyang Lin announced his departure without disclosing reasons. He began working at the company in July 2019 and joined the Qwen team only in April 2023.

Reaction from Colleagues and the Industry
Lin's exit triggered a sharp reaction among employees and partners. This is especially felt now, as competition among AI developers intensifies: companies strive to release models that rival OpenAI, Google, and Anthropic projects.

The Alibaba Qwen family of models is already considered one of China’s most well-known open‑source projects in the field. In benchmarks they deliver results comparable to industry leaders. The first Qwen model was released in April 2023; after obtaining regulatory approval it became available to the public in September.

Small 3.5 Models and Their Impact
Alibaba has already introduced small versions of Qwen 3.5 with 0.8 million, 2 billion, 4 billion, and 9 billion parameters. These multimodal models are designed for a wide range of tasks: from deploying AI on devices to creating lightweight AI agents. The quartet attracted the attention of experts, and even Elon Musk noted that the “impressive density of intelligence” in the new Chinese models deserves attention.

Unclear Circumstances Surrounding the Departure
Nothing is known about Lin’s resignation reasons – he himself did not comment on the situation. Chen Cheng, a member of the Qwen project, shared his emotions: “I was killed by grief,” adding that “the departure was not your choice.” He noted that for several hours they worked together on launching the models. Alibaba has yet to issue an official statement.

Thus, Junyang Lin’s exit raises questions about the future development of open small Qwen models and could impact the company’s strategy in the competitive race to create world‑class AI models.