A new startup from two college dropouts is shaking up the tech world—and not in the way you’d expect. Cluely, founded by 21-year-olds Chungin “Roy” Lee and Neel Shanmugam, isn’t promising to optimize workflows or automate mundane tasks. Instead, it offers users a way to “cheat on everything.”
With $5.3 million in seed funding and a tool that’s already generated over $3 million in annual revenue, Cluely isn’t just controversial, it’s a conversation starter about the role of AI in honesty, productivity, and ethics.
Cluely traces its roots back to Columbia University. Lee and Shanmugam, both then students, developed an AI tool called Interview Coder, designed to help software engineers “cheat” during technical interviews. It worked by displaying helpful content in a hidden browser window that was invisible to the interviewer. Their ingenuity got them suspended. It also got them funding.
Now rebranded under the San Francisco-based startup Cluely, their AI tool has expanded far beyond coding interviews. Today, it’s marketed as a virtual cheat engine for everything—from acing exams and dodging tough interview questions to finessing sales calls. And yes, even lying on dates. In their launch video, Lee uses Cluely to bluff his way through a fancy dinner date, pretending to know about art and even lying about his age, only to flop hilariously. The caption? “Cluely is out. cheat on everything.”
While some viewers praised the video’s tongue-in-cheek tone and bold marketing, others weren’t amused. One user compared the video to an episode of Black Mirror, tweeting, “Imagine making a Black Mirror short as a product ad.”
Cluely has justified its product by drawing parallels to the invention of calculators and spellcheck tools, once derided as cheating but now considered essential. In its manifesto, Cluely argues that it’s not enabling dishonesty, but challenging outdated norms and inefficiencies in education and hiring practices. “Why memorize LeetCode solutions,” Lee asks, “when no real developer writes code like that on the job?”
The controversy, however, is far from academic. Columbia University has declined to comment on the students’ disciplinary cases, citing privacy laws, but the fallout has been real: both founders have since dropped out. Even Lee’s claim that he landed an Amazon internship thanks to the tool has drawn scrutiny. While Amazon won’t discuss specific cases, it did reiterate that candidates are required to avoid unauthorized tools.
Still, the market seems to be listening—if not approving. Cluely’s rapid rise to $3 million ARR shows that demand exists, even if it’s fraught with ethical gray zones.
