On a recent Sunday, Chungin “Roy” Lee, aged 21, publicly disclosed that he secured $5.3 million in seed funding from Abstract Ventures and Susa Ventures for his venture, Cluely. The startup provides an AI tool designed to facilitate cheating in various aspects.
Cluely originated after Lee revealed on a viral post on platform X that he faced suspension from Columbia University. The suspension followed an incident where he and a co-founder created a tool intended to cheat during software engineering job interviews.
Initially known as Interview Coder, this tool has been integrated into the San Francisco-based startup Cluely. The company offers users the ability to “cheat” on activities such as exams, sales calls, and job interviews through a concealed in-browser window that remains invisible to testers or interviewers.
In an effort to defend its concept, Cluely published a manifesto likening its invention to calculators and spellcheck, which were initially criticized as forms of cheating.
Cluely also released a professionally crafted yet contentious launch video. In it, Lee is shown employing a hidden AI assistant unsuccessfully to deceive a woman about his age and art knowledge during a date at an upscale restaurant. The video received mixed reactions; some viewers commended its attention-grabbing nature, while others criticized it as being reminiscent of the dystopian themes found in the television show “Black Mirror.”
Roy Lee, who serves as Cluely’s CEO, reported to TechCrunch that the AI tool for cheating had achieved over $3 million in annual recurring revenue earlier this month.
The company’s other co-founder is Neel Shanmugam, a fellow 21-year-old and former Columbia University student who is now Cluely’s COO. Shanmugam was similarly involved in disciplinary actions at Columbia over the AI tool. Both Lee and Shanmugam have since departed from Columbia, as reported by the university’s student newspaper last week. Columbia University refrained from commenting, citing student privacy regulations.
Cluely was initially conceived to assist developers in bypassing LeetCode, a coding question platform viewed by some, including Cluely’s founders, as antiquated and inefficient.
Lee reportedly secured an internship with Amazon using the AI tool designed to cheat. While Amazon opted not to comment on Lee’s specific case to TechCrunch, it stated that candidates are required to confirm the non-use of unauthorized tools during their interview processes.
Cluely is not the sole controversial AI startup to emerge this month. A well-known AI researcher recently launched a company with the objective of replacing human workers entirely, attracting considerable attention and debate on platform X.
