I just noticed news of a sudden resignation that shook the AI world. Lin Jinyang, the head of the Qwen team at Alibaba, announced his departure dramatically on the X platform right after an internal meeting. The man who took Qwen to the top of the world’s globally open-source large models simply said, “me stepping down. bye my beloved qwen.”

What’s particularly interesting is that this wasn’t a normal resignation. Based on reliable reports, internal disagreements about the direction of development were the real reason. Lin Jinyang believes that the power of developing large models comes from integrated collaboration across all teams, but Alibaba’s management wanted to restructure the team and split it into separate units. This clash over a resignation from work reflects a deeper struggle between technical vision and business goals.

What’s more concerning is that Lin Jinyang wasn’t the only one. Yu Wenbo and Li Kaishen from the core team also left during the same period. Chen Qing, one of the key contributors, commented with heartbreak: “I’m truly brokenhearted—I know that leaving wasn’t your choice.” That remark alone reveals a lot about the nature of the situation.

Honestly, this reflects a resignation-from-work pattern that we often see in big companies. When there’s a disagreement between technical vision and business objectives, and no consensus is reached, leaders leave. Lin Jinyang, who built 帝国Qwen from scratch and turned it into a Chinese benchmark for large models, found himself in a position where he couldn’t stay.

The question now is: will Alibaba be able to maintain Qwen’s momentum without him? Some say he may join another star team or start his own project. Either way, losing a technical leader of Lin Jinyang’s caliber means a real loss for the industry. This resignation model is one that will be discussed for years in tech circles.