The career moves of executives at major internet companies always attract close industry attention. On November 9, Chen Lin, former CEO of Toutiao and Dali Education, published a long article titled “Why Am I Still Working in Education?” on his personal WeChat official account. For the first time, he publicly and formally acknowledged that he had left ByteDance and had fully embarked on an entrepreneurial path in AI education. He has now emerged in the new project “Xiaolu Aixue” (Yinhe Zhixue) as its founder.

Leaving the Front Line and a Two-and-a-Half-Year Recovery Period: Looking Back at Dali Education’s Contraction and a Shift in Mindset

Looking back at his career trajectory over the past few years, Chen admitted in the article that when Dali Education’s business contracted in 2022, seeing the team he had once fought alongside leave with regret left him with a deep sense of guilt. Coupled with health problems at the time, he ultimately chose to step down from front-line management and began a two-and-a-half-year period of recuperation.

During this relatively gentler adjustment period, he was not completely idle. He tried his hand at investing and was also invited by several departments within ByteDance to serve as a consultant. However, as time passed, the idea of returning to front-line business and starting a company again gradually took root in his mind. Before officially launching the new project, he had a deep conversation with Zhang Yiming, former chairman and CEO of ByteDance.

The Starting Point That Triggered His Entrepreneurship: A Rainy Night at Sayram Lake in 2023 and Deep Reflections on the AI Era

When talking about his original intention in deciding to restart his education entrepreneurship, Chen turned the clock back to a rainy night at Sayram Lake in June 2023.

At the time, foundational AI technologies represented by ChatGPT were setting off an unprecedented industry transformation. As machines showed the potential to gradually replace professional capabilities across industries, Chen began to sink into deep anxiety. The core question he kept pondering was: In an AI era that is arriving in full force, how should the next generation of young people grow up? And how can children break through the existing limitations of technology to achieve long-term and well-rounded growth? It was precisely this series of deep reflections on the future of education that ultimately became the core starting point and source of motivation for him to restart his education entrepreneurship.