Alibaba launches Token Foundry to unify AI labs under CEO

Alibaba Group has consolidated its core artificial intelligence research divisions into a new unit called Token Foundry, placing Chief Executive Eddie Wu directly at the helm of its AI strategy. The move, confirmed this week, merges the Tongyi Lab and Future Life Lab under a single leadership structure as the company accelerates its push to commercialize AI technology and find new growth drivers.

Token Foundry will operate under the broader Alibaba Token Hub business group, which was established in March. The restructuring aims to bridge foundational AI research with consumer-facing applications more efficiently. Tongyi Lab has been the flagship division for Alibaba's large language model family, Qwen, while Future Life Lab, previously under the Taobao and Tmall Group, focused on applied AI products like the video-generation model Happy Horse and the open-world AI system Happy Oyster.

Concurrently, Alibaba announced the formation of an AI Future Research Institute, to be led by newly appointed Chief Scientist Zhou Jingren. This institute will concentrate on pioneering advanced AI technologies and next-generation breakthroughs. The company also established a top-level technology...