Key Takeaways
- An AI research team known as WizardLM, formerly part of Microsoft, has reportedly moved to the Chinese tech giant Tencent.
- The team has joined Tencent’s Hunyuan AI development organization and has already released a new AI model under this banner.
- WizardLM previously faced scrutiny when Microsoft quickly withdrew one of its AI models due to a missed testing requirement.
- This acquisition highlights Tencent’s growing investment and focus on advancing its artificial intelligence capabilities.
A Beijing-based AI research group, WizardLM, appears to have shifted from Microsoft to Chinese tech conglomerate Tencent. Can Xu, a senior AI researcher who spearheaded several WizardLM projects, announced on X that he and the team have joined Hunyuan, one of Tencent’s AI development arms.
Hunyuan has been active recently, releasing various AI models, including tools for generating video and 3D objects. In fact, WizardLM has already launched a Hunyuan-branded model, dubbed Hunyuan-TurboS 0416.
Qingfeng Sun, who described himself on X as a “co-founder” of WizardLM, claims this new model outperforms some open AI models like Google’s Gemma 3 series. Details on how many researchers made the move or the exact timing of their departure from Microsoft remain unclear. According to TechCrunch, both Tencent and Microsoft have been approached for comment.
WizardLM, formed several years ago, has a somewhat unusual background. Last April, while still under Microsoft, the team released a suite of AI models, WizardLM-2, claiming they rivaled OpenAI’s GPT-4.
However, Microsoft pulled WizardLM-2 from the internet just a day later. The reason given was that the models hadn’t undergone necessary “toxicity testing.” The WizardLM team acknowledged this oversight on X, stating they were completing the tests and would rerelease the model.
The removal wasn’t entirely effective, as users quickly reuploaded the original and modified versions of WizardLM-2. Clément Delangue, CEO of the AI development platform Hugging Face, noted that Microsoft’s action, which also affected other WizardLM models, disrupted numerous open-source projects that relied on them.
At Tencent, it seems WizardLM will continue its core mission of developing and releasing AI models. This move aligns with Tencent’s recent restructuring of its Hunyuan team and increased spending on AI infrastructure.
Tencent cited its AI investments as a driver for its 8% year-over-year growth in the first quarter of 2025. The company plans to allocate approximately 90 billion yuan (around $12.49 billion) to capital expenditures this year, with a significant portion dedicated to its AI initiatives.
