oh brother
Chujie Zheng@ChujieZheng
This guy seems to have left our team after the first-gen Qwen model. Our team also did not have a “head of RL” role at that time.
12:00 AM · Jun 30, 2026 · 1.5K Views
Alibaba's Qwen team disputes researcher Tianhang Zhu's claims of leading its reinforcement learning development
Story Overview
A public back-and-forth erupted on X after Tianhang Zhu posted about his new role leading LLM research at Fundamental Research Labs while referencing his past Alibaba Qwen work. Team members pushed back, stating he left after the first Qwen model and that no head-of-RL position existed on the team at the time.
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Timeline Check
Departure Timing Limits Later Credit
Zhu departed Qwen around May 2024, months before the September 2024 Qwen2.5 release, and the team has noted the absence of any formal RL leadership title during his tenure.
Open Question
Contribution Details Stay Unclear
While Zhu is confirmed as a co-author on the original Qwen report and the Qwen2 report, the precise scope of his RL work and any shorthand titles he used remain points of open disagreement with no independent verification available.
Sentiment
Positive users praise Tianhang Zhu's early PPO work on Qwen as technically impressive, while negative users mock the ex-engineer's disputed RL leadership claims as self-promotional and tiresome.
Pos
33.3%
Neg
66.7%
13 comments with sentiment.
Cluster Engagement
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