Alibaba (BABA) said it would form a task force to accelerate foundation model development, following the resignation of its Qwen AI unit head Lin Junyang.
The task force will consist of Alibaba’s CEO Eddie Wu, Alibaba Group Chief Technology Officer Wu Zeming, and Alibaba Cloud CTO Zhou Jingren, according to a memo shared by CEO Wu to the Tongyi Laboratory colleagues, who develop the Qwen model.
“Additionally, the company will establish a Foundation Model Task Force, consisting of me, Jingren and Fanyu [nickname for Wu Zeming], who will jointly coordinate group-wide resources to accelerate foundation model development,” said the memo provided by Alibaba to Seeking Alpha.
The letter came a day after the resignation of Lin, the technical lead for Alibaba’s Qwen foundational models. Lin said in a post on X that he was stepping down, which saw many, including Chinese AI startup MiniMax, thanking him for his contribution to the open-source community.
CEO Wu said in the memo that the company accepted Lin’s resignation and was thankful for his contributions.
“Advancing foundation models is a core strategic priority for our future. While continuing to uphold our open-source model strategy, we will further scale up investment in AI research and development, accelerate the recruitment of top talent,” said the memo.
Zhou will continue to lead Tongyi Laboratory — the research division within Alibaba Cloud that develops the Qwen AI models — and drive its ongoing initiatives, the memo added.