Microsoft AI Research Group WizardLM Joins Tencent
A Beijing-based Microsoft AI research group, WizardLM, has made the move to join Tencent, the Chinese tech giant known for WeChat and popular games like PUBG Mobile. Can Xu, a senior AI researcher who led projects within WizardLM, announced the team’s transition to Hunyuan, one of Tencent’s AI development organizations, in a post on X.
Over the past few months, Hunyuan has been actively releasing AI models, including video and 3D object generators. One of the latest models, Hunyuan-TurboS 0416, has already been launched by WizardLM under the Hunyuan brand. According to Qingfeng Sun, a self-proclaimed co-founder of WizardLM, Hunyuan-TurboS 0416 surpasses existing AI models like Google’s Gemma 3 series.
While it remains unclear how many researchers are still part of WizardLM and when the team officially departed from Microsoft, questions loom over this significant transition. Both Tencent and Microsoft have been contacted for further insights.
WizardLM’s journey has been marked by notable events. Last April, the team, then under Microsoft, introduced the WizardLM-2 AI models, which were positioned as competitors to OpenAI’s GPT-4. However, Microsoft swiftly removed WizardLM-2 from the web after a day, citing the lack of “toxicity testing” as a crucial omission in the model release process.
This deletion had repercussions as users reuploaded the original WizardLM-2 models and customized versions soon after. Additionally, Microsoft’s decision impacted the Hugging Face community, as highlighted by Hugging Face CEO Clément Delangue in a post on the AI development platform.
At Tencent, WizardLM is anticipated to continue its AI model development efforts, aligning with Tencent’s strategic focus on AI investments. Tencent recently restructured its Hunyuan team, expanding its AI infrastructure spending and establishing two new units to drive foundational models.
Tencent’s commitment to AI investments has been reflected in its 8% year-over-year growth in Q1 2025. The company has earmarked significant capital expenditures towards AI initiatives, with plans to invest 90 billion yuan, approximately $12.49 billion, in advancing its AI capabilities.
