Cluely raises $5.3 million in seed funding for AI tool that helps users 'cheat' in tests and at work

Roy Lee isn’t just another college dropout with a startup. The 21-year-old Korean American is flipping the script on how tech interviews work, armed with a controversial AI tool that helps users cheat.

Cluely founder Roy Lee demonstrates using the software to search real-time information while on a date in this still from a video posted to Lee's X account on April 21. [SCREEN CAPTURE]

Roy Lee isn’t just another college dropout with a startup. The 21-year-old Korean American is flipping the script on how job interviews work, armed with a controversial AI tool that helps users cheat their way through interviews, tests and sales calls.

He used the tool himself to secure offers from major tech firms and later co-founded a startup that has just raised $5.3 million in seed funding, according to TechCrunch on Monday.

The startup, called Cluely, offers an AI tool of the same name that assists users in real time through a hidden browser window. The invisible interface provides answers and summaries during interactions like interviews and exams without alerting the other party — a feature that has sparked ethical concerns over its use.

Cluely was co-founded by Lee, whose Korean name is Lee Chung-in, and Neel Shanmugam. The two were sophomores at Columbia University when they were suspended for a year in February for using the tool during classes. They both eventually dropped out and started the company.

Cluely's first product, Interview Coder, was built to help job applicants answer technical coding questions during interviews. Lee claimed that the tool helped him pass internship interviews at tech giants like Amazon and Meta.

It’s a “completely undetectable AI that sees your screen, hears your audio and gives you real-time assistance in any situation,” Lee wrote in a LinkedIn post announcing the successful seed fund-raising round.

He even recorded himself using the tool during an Amazon interview and later published the footage. The video gained traction online, prompting Amazon to complain to Columbia University, which led to disciplinary action.

After leaving school, Lee and Shanmugam expanded the tool's capabilities to include use cases in meetings, exams and sales presentations.

Cluely's manifesto as shown on the startup's website [SCREEN CAPTURE]

“Cluely is out,” Lee posted on X, formerly Twitter, on Monday, adding the slogan: “Cheat on everything.”

In the video posted on X, he demonstrated how the AI fed him real-time information about art and his age while chatting with someone at a restaurant — effectively allowing him to fabricate details during the conversation through a private, AI-powered interface.

The startup argues that its tool should be seen as a natural evolution of digital assistance.

“The world will call it cheating. But so was the calculator. So was spellcheck. So was Google,” Cluely wrote in its manifesto uploaded to its website.

The technology will become normalized after the world adapts it, the firm added.

BY HAN YOUNG-HYE [kim.juyeon2@joongang.co.kr]