In the intense battlefield of artificial intelligence, organizational and talent stability are key determinants of success.
Following the widespread external attention garnered by a 70,000-word resignation essay titled "Inside DingTalk" posted by an employee of DingTalk, Alibaba's Partnership Committee has finally stepped in to address the matter.
On June 10th, the Alibaba Partnership Committee published a post on the company's intranet named "Culture with Compassion, Loyalty, and Growth is the True Alibaba Culture."
This post directly addressed the public controversy ignited by the recent resignation essay "Inside DingTalk" from a former product manager, using strong language to criticize the management style within the DingTalk team.
The Alibaba Partnership Committee stated: "Everyone unanimously agrees that, under no circumstances, no matter how urgent the task, should the management style of the DingTalk team as mentioned in the post occur. This method has never been the direction advocated by Alibaba's culture, nor is it what Alibaba's culture should be."
For Alibaba (BABA), which has consistently emphasized entrepreneurial spirit, organizational efficiency, and business competitiveness in recent years, such a public course correction is unusual.
To some extent, this serves as both a response to the internal management controversy at DingTalk and a signal of Alibaba's effort to redefine its organizational culture for the AI era.
In the post, the Alibaba Partnership Committee emphasized that Alibaba employees come together because of mutual trust and a shared goal of accomplishing meaningful and valuable tasks, stating that "mutual respect, treating people as people, and having compassion and loyalty" form the foundational culture of Alibaba. These principles must not change, regardless of how the times or technology evolve.
More notably, the committee directly linked this issue to the AI era.
The post pointed out that Alibaba's future lies in innovation, but innovation has never relied on high pressure and mechanical execution, especially in the age of AI.
In other words, from Alibaba's perspective, facing the new wave of AI technology competition, what the organization needs is not stronger control, but higher-quality mechanisms to inspire talent.
This statement essentially reflects the Alibaba management's assessment of future competitive models.
During the period of rapid growth in the internet industry, management styles like "996" and "wolf culture" were once viewed by some companies as tools for efficiency; however, in the AI era, technological breakthroughs increasingly depend on the creativity of top talent and cross-team collaboration, while the marginal gains from relying solely on high-pressure management are diminishing.
In fact, as the DingTalk incident occurred, the entire Alibaba Group is undergoing a new round of organizational restructuring centered on AI.
On June 8th, Alibaba announced the merger of the Tongyi Large Model Division and the Future Life Lab to establish the Token Foundry Division, which will be directly overseen by Group CEO Yongming Wu.
Simultaneously, Jingren Zhou will take up the newly created role of Group Chief Scientist—the first in Alibaba's history—to lead the establishment of the AI Future Research Institute; Zheng Bo will lead projects like Happy Horse and Happy Oyster into the Token Foundry Division.
This marks the third major adjustment at the AI organizational level since Alibaba established the ATH Business Group in March 2026 and formed the Group Technology Committee in April.
In recent years, as competition in large models intensifies, Alibaba has been concentrating resources on its AI strategy. To achieve this goal, Alibaba continues to strengthen the coordination of its core technical resources.
For Alibaba, the key resources for future competition are not just computing power and models, but also the talent capable of continuously generating innovative results.
Therefore, when the Partnership Committee emphasizes that "in the AI era, people are the most valuable asset" and that "cultivating and inspiring people is the responsibility of every Leader," it is essentially defining the boundaries for Alibaba's future organizational competitiveness.
From this perspective, the DingTalk incident may have merely been a catalyst.
What is truly noteworthy is that, after fully committing to AI, Alibaba is once again addressing an old question: as a technological revolution arrives, what kind of organizational culture can consistently foster innovation?
Appendix: Original Text of Alibaba's Intranet Post
"Culture with Compassion, Loyalty, and Growth is the True Alibaba Culture"
Dear Colleagues,
In recent days, the company's partners have noted the discussions sparked internally and externally by the intranet post "Inside DingTalk." The partners have also engaged in serious discussions regarding the current team culture at DingTalk. Everyone unanimously agrees that, under no circumstances, no matter how urgent the task, should the management style of the DingTalk team as mentioned in the post occur. This method has never been the direction advocated by Alibaba's culture, nor is it what Alibaba's culture should be.
Alibaba employees come together because of mutual trust and a shared goal of accomplishing meaningful and valuable tasks. Mutual respect, treating people as people, and having compassion and loyalty are the foundational elements of our culture. No matter how the times change or how technology develops, these foundational elements must not change at Alibaba.
Alibaba's future lies in innovation, but innovation has never relied on high pressure and mechanical execution, especially in the age of AI. Alibaba's innovation must rely on the passion and creativity of every colleague. We firmly believe that only by fully respecting the individual value of every colleague can we truly create customer value and move towards the future.
Team atmosphere is the primary responsibility of managers at all levels. A Leader's responsibility is vision, proactive accountability, and uniting and motivating the team. People are Alibaba's most valuable asset; cultivating and inspiring people is the responsibility of every Leader. In the AI era, as machines can replace many tasks humans perform, people become our most precious asset. In the AI era, we need to persist even more in having compassion and loyalty, and we need to collectively cultivate an open, inclusive, and diverse work culture.
The Partnership Committee
June 10, 2026
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