Alibaba Group has appointed senior AI researcher Liu Dayiheng as head of the Qwen large language model project, clarifying the team's management structure following organizational restructuring earlier this year. The appointment was confirmed by sources familiar with the matter. Liu’s new role is prominently displayed on the official speaker list for Alibaba’s upcoming Apsara Conference, where his portrait appears immediately after Group Chairman Joe Tsai and CEO Eddie Wu. The conference is scheduled to open on Tuesday.