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Did Alibaba just kneecap its powerful Qwen AI team?

venturebeat.com

March 4, 2026

5 min read

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54/100

Summary

Key figures from Alibaba's Qwen AI team, known for their extensive contributions to open source generative models, have departed following the release of the Qwen3.5 small model series. The release received public acclaim from Elon Musk for its notable intelligence density.

Key Takeaways

Key figures from Alibaba's Qwen AI team, including technical lead Junyang "Justin" Lin, have departed the company shortly after the release of the Qwen3.5 model series.
The Qwen3.5 models utilize a Gated DeltaNet hybrid architecture, allowing a 9B-parameter model to achieve performance comparable to larger systems while maintaining efficiency for use on standard devices.
Alibaba is shifting its focus from research-driven development to a more metric-driven approach under new leadership, raising concerns about the future of Qwen's open-source initiatives.
The leadership changes and strategic pivot towards monetization create uncertainty for over 90,000 enterprises currently using Qwen, which was initially valued for its balance of performance and transparency.

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Community Sentiment

Negative

Positives

The Qwen team demonstrated exceptional capabilities in NLP and LLMs, indicating a strong potential for future advancements in AI applications.
Elon Musk's praise for Qwen's efforts highlights the team's influence and innovation in the AI landscape, suggesting they are on the cutting edge of technology.

Concerns

The firing of key team members from Qwen raises serious concerns about the future of their projects, potentially leading to a decline in innovation and performance.
Corporate politics appear to undermine the Qwen team's success, risking the loss of multi-modal capabilities that could have advanced Alibaba's AI offerings significantly.
There is a fear that Qwen4 will not meet expectations, similar to Llama 4, suggesting a lack of confidence in the team's ability to deliver under current circumstances.