Alibaba Hires Ex-Google Researcher to Lead Qwen Post-Training

Alibaba is bringing in fresh talent for its Qwen team—just as some key people are leaving.

The company appointed Zhou Hao, previously a senior staff research scientist at Google, as head of post-training research, according to South China Morning Post, citing sources familiar with the matter. Zhou replaces Yu Bowen, who also departed this week.

The hire comes amid a turbulent period for Alibaba's Qwen division. Earlier this week, Junyang "Justin" Lin, the technical lead who steered Qwen from a lab project to a global powerhouse with over 600 million downloads, announced his departure along with two other team members.

Alibaba has not yet announced a successor to Lin. The company confirmed Lin's resignation in a message from CEO Eddie Wu to staff, thanking him for his contributions.