Alibaba AI Whiz Quits After Warning of US-China Tech Gap

The architect of Alibaba Group Holding Ltd.’s chief AI model has resigned, a surprise departure that’s rattled the developer community and raised questions about the Chinese online leader’s pivot to artificial intelligence.

Junyang Lin, who also goes by Justin, announced on X he was stepping down as the tech lead for Qwen, Alibaba’s main AI platform. That early morning post triggered a surge of support from the open-source community. Alibaba’s shares slid as much as 5.3% in Hong Kong — their biggest intraday loss since October — in part because investors are unwinding AI-related trades given global uncertainty.