MiniMax’s product chief steps back amid China’s AI leadership shakeup

Header photo source: Guxingren.

Zhang Qianchuan, the head of product at MiniMax, has stepped back from his role at the company due to personal reasons, multiple sources told 36Kr.

While he remains part of the company in a new product advisory role, it is said to be a symbolic appointment and Zhang is believed to no longer be involved in day-to-day operations at the Chinese artificial intelligence company.

“Zhang Qianchuan is no longer participating in MiniMax’s business. It’s basically the same as leaving,” a source told 36Kr.

Zhang’s tech career has spanned several major players in China’s digital landscape. He started for Baidu’s search business and Zhihu before joining ByteDance in 2016, where he worked on minigame products and eventually led the user products team at Toutiao. After leaving ByteDance in early 2023, Zhang announced plans to launch his own AI company but later opted to join MiniMax.

In 2024, several high-profile figures from AI unicorns like MiniMax have left to start their own ventures or join other teams.

For instance, media reports say Huang Wenhao, former vice president of algorithms and head of model pre-training at 01.AI, recently joined ByteDance, where he’ll oversee technical project management and report directly to AI chief Zhu Wenjia. Additionally, 01.AI co-founder Li Xiangang has left and returned to Beike, where he previously worked.

During his time at MiniMax, Zhang helmed the development of Xingye, a consumer AI roleplaying product, as well as its international version Talkie AI. According to SensorTower, Talkie AI has racked up 3.8 million downloads in the US since 2024, coming in just behind OpenAI’s ChatGPT, Microsoft’s Copilot, and Zuoyebang’s Question.ai.

“A lot of the key strategies for monetizing Xingye were personally led by Zhang and his team,” one source told 36Kr.

By mid-2024, Zhang had stepped back from making decisions on Xingye and shifted his focus to MiniMax’s Hailuo AI and other products. Insiders say Zhang has been on an extended break over the past few months.

With Xingye and Hailuo AI serving as MiniMax’s flagship products, Zhang’s departure could have a noticeable impact on the company’s trajectory. For MiniMax, the task of finding the right leader to take the reins of these products is now a top priority.

KrASIA Connection features translated and adapted content that was originally published by 36Kr. This article was written by Zhou Xinyu for 36Kr.