Columbia students suspended for creating AI cheating tool raise $5.3 million in seed funding

Back in March, former Columbia University student Chungin “Roy” Lee started sharing the story of how him and his friend were suspended for creating an AI tool that lets users cheat on coding interviews and more, without being detected. The tool is now called Cluely and it has raised $5.3 million in seed funding, with a free model available for download from the official website. 

Lee shared a post on LinkedIn stating that his AI tool Cluely is a cheating tool for “literally everything.” It can see your screen, hear your audio, and give you real-time assistance in any situation, without being detected. The tool can assist in interviews, assignments, sales calls, tests, meetings, and more. Lee justifies this tool by comparing it with calculators, spell checkers, and Google search. “Every time technology makes us smarter, the world panics. Then it adapts. Then it forgets. And suddenly, it's normal,” the manifesto on the official Cluely website reads. 

Cluely is said to be completely undetectable as it stays invisible during screen sharing and the window can be moved around to show focus on the camera. 

The startup came to life after Lee and his friend and co-founder Neel Shanmugam were suspended for a year from Columbia University. He started posting the story on X which has garnered a lot of attention with polarizing opinions from commenters. The posts include letters that he received from the university stating that he has been suspended for a year. However, Lee seems to have no intention of going back. 

Cluely has a free model that has the basic features and a Pro model for $20 per month that includes unlimited usage, solving and debugging, more powerful agent models, and 24/7 customer support. The yearly plan for the Pro model costs $100.