PeopleofSuperintelligence

Lab leader

Deli Zhao

Also known as 赵德丽, Zhao Deli

A visual-computing researcher turned model builder, Deli Zhao founded Alibaba's vision foundation-model team at DAMO Academy. Before DAMO, they spent six years as research director at HTC and Xiaomi, and six years at Microsoft Research Asia and CUHK. Their team released Composer and VideoComposer in 2023, and RynnBrain, an open-source embodied model, in February 2026. In January 2026 they spoke as DAMO Academy's chief scientist, and in September 2026 reports said they had left their post as head of the embodied intelligence laboratory. Lingshu-Cell, a virtual cell model, and Elements, a materials discovery model, came out in March 2026 and April 2026.

Timeline

  1. 2012

    Graph Degree Linkage clustering

    In 2012 they co-author Graph Degree Linkage, an ECCV clustering paper, with Wei Zhang, Xiaogang Wang and Xiaoou Tang. They spend six years as research director at HTC and Xiaomi before joining Alibaba, and six years in the Visual Computing Group at Microsoft Research Asia and the MMLab at CUHK.

  2. 2023

    Composer and VideoComposer

    In 2023 their team releases Composer and VideoComposer, Alibaba's large models for image and video generation and editing.

  3. April 2023

    Directing DAMO's basic vision team

    In April 2023 they direct DAMO Academy's basic vision team. They also found Alibaba's vision foundation model team.

  4. January 2026

    Chief scientist at DAMO

    In January 2026 they speak to Alibaba and Ant alumni as DAMO Academy's chief scientist, on AI and the next-generation internet.

  5. February 2026

    Releasing the RynnBrain model

    In February 2026 their team releases RynnBrain, an open-source spatiotemporal foundation model for embodied intelligence.

  6. March 2026–April 2026

    Lingshu-Cell and Elements models

    In March 2026 their team releases Lingshu-Cell, a virtual cell foundation model. In April 2026 the team releases Elements, a materials discovery foundation model.

  7. September 2026

    Reported exit from DAMO

    In September 2026 reports say they leave their post as head of the embodied intelligence laboratory at DAMO Academy.

Sources and credits

Photo: We have no published photo of Deli Zhao yet. Send us a free-licensed photo.

  1. Welcome to Deli Zhao's Homepage zhaodeli.github.io. Checked 14 October 2026.
  2. Graph Degree Linkage: Agglomerative Clustering on a Directed Graph | ML Anthology mlanthology.org. Checked 14 October 2026.
  3. Zhao Deli, Director of the Basic Vision Team at Alibaba DAMO Academy: The text-to-image generation product "Tongyi Wanxiang" will be gradually opened at the end of the month chaincatcher.com. Checked 14 October 2026.
  4. 2026 Resilient Growth: Alibaba & Ant Alumni Entrepreneurship Annual Conference Launches at Alibaba Center - West Lake eu.36kr.com. Checked 14 October 2026.
  5. [2602.14979] RynnBrain: Open Embodied Foundation Models arxiv.org. Checked 14 October 2026.
  6. Mass Exodus of Senior Executives: The Hidden Truth Behind China’s 93.5 Billion Yuan Booming Embodied Intelligence Industry eu.36kr.com. Checked 14 October 2026.