Alibaba Cloud CTO and head of Tongyi Lab, Zhou Jingren, has recently been appointed as an Alibaba partner, the company’s highest collective decision-making body. This follows a significant reduction in the partnership team earlier this year, which now stands at 17 members—the smallest since Alibaba’s IPO.
Zhou, who joined Alibaba a decade ago, holds a Ph.D. in computer science from Columbia University and previously served as a research partner at Microsoft. His leadership at Tongyi Lab has been instrumental in maintaining the Qwen series’ leading position among open-source AI models, earning high praise from Alibaba’s management.
Tongyi Lab was formed in 2023 as part of Alibaba’s restructuring, consolidating AI research teams from DAMO Academy under Alibaba Cloud. The lab has since prioritized younger talent, with post-90s graduates like Zhou Chang and Liu Yu taking key roles in foundational language and visual model development.
Despite progress, Tongyi Lab has faced talent attrition, including the departure of Zhou Chang, former head of the Qwen model team, to ByteDance. Alibaba has responded by promoting younger leaders like Lin Junyang and increasing compensation to retain talent.
The lab is under pressure to maintain its competitive edge as rivals like DeepSeek and other Chinese AI startups adopt open-source strategies. Meanwhile, Tongyi’s Qwen app has been elevated as a strategic priority, with plans to integrate it across Alibaba’s ecosystem, including Taobao and Amap.
Zhou Jingren’s appointment as a partner signals Alibaba’s commitment to advancing its AI strategy amid fierce competition, balancing autonomy for researchers with expectations for breakthrough results.
Comments