Alibaba recruits Google DeepMind contributor to join Qwen AI team, sources say

Alibaba Group has made a significant strategic hire, recruiting former Google DeepMind senior research scientist Zhou Hao to bolster its Qwen artificial intelligence division. Zhou, who holds a PhD from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and was a key contributor to Google's proprietary AI products like Gemini 3, AI Mode, and Deep Research, will join as the head of post-training research. This appointment is part of an internal reshuffle that has seen the departure of the previous technical lead, Lin Junyang, and Zhou's predecessor, Yu Bowen. The move signals Alibaba's intensified focus on advancing its flagship AI models, particularly the proprietary Qwen-Max, which powers its consumer Qwen app launched in November.

The recruitment of a top AI researcher from a leading Western lab like DeepMind represents a major talent coup for Alibaba as it seeks to compete globally. The restructuring aligns with the company's accelerated efforts to monetize its AI technology, which now includes the Qwen consumer app and AI glasses, recently merged under a single organizational umbrella. By bringing in expertise from the team behind models like Gemini 3, Alibaba aims to enhance the post-training phase—a critical stage for refining model behavior, safety, and performance—for its Qwen series. This talent infusion is a clear indicator of the escalating global AI arms race, where Chinese tech giants are aggressively recruiting top-tier international expertise to close the gap with US counterparts and drive commercial adoption.