Alibaba’s Qwen Tech Lead Steps Down After Major Model Push

Alibaba is dealing with the kind of AI headline no model team wants right after a release: a key technical leader behind Qwen says he’s stepping down.
Junyang Lin posted a brief goodbye message on X and said he was leaving his role on the project without giving a reason. Alibaba hasn’t explained the change or named a clear successor publicly.
According to TechCrunch, Lin’s post followed Alibaba’s release of new Qwen 3.5 “small models,” and Alibaba did not resp