Latest news with #Chungin'Roy'Lee
Economic Times
3 days ago
- Business
- Economic Times
Student techie builds AI tool to cheat six-figure-salary job interview, gets suspended but secures over $5 million in seed funding
iStock A Columbia University student, faced suspension for creating Cluely, an AI-powered job hacking tool. Despite the controversy sparked by his Amazon job offer video, Lee secured $5.3 million in seed funding for his startup. (Representational Image: iStock) In a digital age where artificial intelligence is rapidly rewriting the rules of productivity, one student has turned controversy into capital. Chungin 'Roy' Lee, a 21-year-old former Columbia University student, has developed an AI-powered job hacking tool that not only got him suspended but also fetched his startup a jaw-dropping $5.3 million in seed funding. Cluely, as the tool is now known, began its journey under the name Coder. It functions as an in-browser overlay that discreetly helps users answer coding questions during technical job interviews—particularly those common on platforms like LeetCode. 'I thought, why are we wasting time on these arbitrary puzzles?' Lee explained in an interview with TechCrunch, framing Cluely as a natural extension of tech aids like calculators and spell checkers once deemed 'cheating.' Lee's ambitions took a controversial turn when he posted a video using the tool to secure a job offer from Amazon. The video went viral—and not in the way he'd hoped. According to Lee, Amazon was 'extremely upset' and allegedly contacted Columbia University with an ultimatum: suspend the student or risk being blacklisted from Amazon's hiring pool. What followed was a disciplinary hearing and Lee's suspension from Columbia. Speaking to Dr. Phil, Lee expressed disbelief: 'Obviously, I'm upset because Columbia is supposed to be training the future generation of leaders... I thought, as an Ivy League institution, anyone who's going to openly embrace their students using AI for various purposes that had nothing to do with the school, it'd be Columbia.' Despite the backlash, Cluely's success is undeniable. The startup, co-founded with COO Neel Shanmugam, has already crossed a $3 million average annual return in the first half of 2025, according to TechCrunch. Its tagline, 'Cheat on Everything,' has made it both notorious and fascinating. In a promo video bordering on parody, Lee demonstrates how Cluely could eventually integrate into AR glasses, helping users lie their way through social situations—like pretending to appreciate art on a first date. Critics compared the clip to an episode of Black Mirror, while others saw it as tongue-in-cheek genius. Either way, it made headlines. Lee's story throws open a thorny debate: in a world increasingly dominated by algorithms, what does 'cheating' even mean anymore? Is Cluely a symptom of a broken system that values puzzles over potential—or a tech-savvy shortcut that undermines meritocracy?
Time of India
3 days ago
- Business
- Time of India
Student techie builds AI tool to cheat six-figure-salary job interview, gets suspended but secures over $5 million in seed funding
In a digital age where artificial intelligence is rapidly rewriting the rules of productivity , one student has turned controversy into capital. Chungin 'Roy' Lee, a 21-year-old former Columbia University student, has developed an AI-powered job hacking tool that not only got him suspended but also fetched his startup a jaw-dropping $5.3 million in seed funding. Cluely, as the tool is now known, began its journey under the name Coder. It functions as an in-browser overlay that discreetly helps users answer coding questions during technical job interviews—particularly those common on platforms like LeetCode. 'I thought, why are we wasting time on these arbitrary puzzles?' Lee explained in an interview with TechCrunch, framing Cluely as a natural extension of tech aids like calculators and spell checkers once deemed 'cheating.' Explore courses from Top Institutes in Please select course: Select a Course Category Others CXO Design Thinking PGDM Product Management Cybersecurity MCA Artificial Intelligence Public Policy Operations Management Project Management Leadership Data Analytics others Healthcare Digital Marketing Degree Finance MBA Data Science healthcare Management Data Science Technology Skills you'll gain: Duration: 7 Months S P Jain Institute of Management and Research CERT-SPJIMR Exec Cert Prog in AI for Biz India Starts on undefined Get Details Skills you'll gain: Duration: 9 months IIM Lucknow SEPO - IIML CHRO India Starts on undefined Get Details Skills you'll gain: Duration: 16 Weeks Indian School of Business CERT-ISB Transforming HR with Analytics & AI India Starts on undefined Get Details Skills you'll gain: Duration: 28 Weeks MICA CERT-MICA SBMPR Async India Starts on undefined Get Details When Amazon Called, Columbia Answered Lee's ambitions took a controversial turn when he posted a video using the tool to secure a job offer from Amazon. The video went viral—and not in the way he'd hoped. According to Lee, Amazon was 'extremely upset' and allegedly contacted Columbia University with an ultimatum: suspend the student or risk being blacklisted from Amazon's hiring pool. What followed was a disciplinary hearing and Lee's suspension from Columbia. Speaking to Dr. Phil, Lee expressed disbelief: 'Obviously, I'm upset because Columbia is supposed to be training the future generation of leaders... I thought, as an Ivy League institution, anyone who's going to openly embrace their students using AI for various purposes that had nothing to do with the school, it'd be Columbia.' The Morality of Automation Despite the backlash, Cluely's success is undeniable. The startup, co-founded with COO Neel Shanmugam, has already crossed a $3 million average annual return in the first half of 2025, according to TechCrunch. Its tagline, 'Cheat on Everything,' has made it both notorious and fascinating. — code_star (@code_star) In a promo video bordering on parody, Lee demonstrates how Cluely could eventually integrate into AR glasses, helping users lie their way through social situations—like pretending to appreciate art on a first date. Critics compared the clip to an episode of Black Mirror, while others saw it as tongue-in-cheek genius. Either way, it made headlines. MORE STORIES FOR YOU ✕ « Back to recommendation stories I don't want to see these stories because They are not relevant to me They disrupt the reading flow Others SUBMIT Lee's story throws open a thorny debate: in a world increasingly dominated by algorithms, what does 'cheating' even mean anymore? Is Cluely a symptom of a broken system that values puzzles over potential—or a tech-savvy shortcut that undermines meritocracy?
Time of India
6 days ago
- Business
- Time of India
Chungin Lee: Do you know why this 21-year-old Silicon Valley CEO was suspended by Columbia University?
In the fast-evolving world of AI and employability, few stories are as polarising or instructive as that of Chungin 'Roy' Lee. Just over a year ago, the 21-year-old computer science student at Columbia University was suspended for building an AI tool deemed incompatible with academic integrity. Today, he is the co-founder and CEO of Cluely, a Silicon Valley startup that has raised $20.3 million in funding and sits at the centre of the ongoing debate around AI-enabled productivity and ethical boundaries. Cluely is a stealth-mode AI assistant that offers real-time, undetectable support across virtual environments including interviews, exams, meetings and more. The question it raises is critical: is this real innovation or engineered dishonesty? The product that started it all In early 2024, while still at Columbia, Lee launched Interview Coder, an AI tool designed to support candidates in real-time coding interviews. It read screen activity, picked up audio, and offered suggestions, all discreetly. The aim, according to Lee, was to help users navigate high-pressure interview formats that had failed to evolve in the age of generative AI. The product gained traction quickly, with over 10,000 users and nearly $47,000 in revenue within months. Lee even used his own tool to crack interviews at tech giants like Amazon, Meta, and TikTok, until he publicly demonstrated its use, prompting companies to rescind offers and Columbia to investigate. by Taboola by Taboola Sponsored Links Sponsored Links Promoted Links Promoted Links You May Like You Might Want To Buy Baking Soda In Bulk After Reading This Read More Undo From academic setback to entrepreneurial pivot In April 2024, Columbia suspended Lee for a year for violating its Academic Integrity Policy. The disciplinary action might have ended another student's ambitions, but for Lee, it marked a turning point. He moved to San Francisco, teamed up with fellow student Neel Shanmugam, and rebranded his tool as Cluely. Unlike its predecessor, Cluely was designed for broader use. It now supports not just job interviews but exams, meetings, sales pitches, and more, offering real-time, undetectable AI assistance across virtual interactions. The pivot marked Lee's formal transition from a student innovator to a full-time founder operating in one of tech's most scrutinised ethical grey zones. Investors back the vision By April 2025, Cluely had raised $5.3 million in seed funding. Just two months later, Andreessen Horowitz led a $15 million Series A round, signalling high-profile validation of Lee's vision. For Lee, the funding rounds were not just financial milestones; they were affirmations of an idea that many still found difficult to digest. Lee has remained unapologetic about his approach. 'Everyone uses AI now,' he told the Associated Press. 'It doesn't make sense to have systems that test people as if they don't.' For him, Cluely is less about cheating and more about bridging the gap between outdated evaluations and real-world workflows. The career dilemma Lee now embodies Lee's trajectory raises fundamental questions about the future of work and qualification. As AI becomes inseparable from daily productivity, where do we draw the line between assistance and unfair advantage? Employers, including tech giants like Google, are reportedly rethinking their hiring practices. Education systems are scrambling to revisit honour codes that now seem out of sync with how students learn and work. Lee's career graph is marked by sharp pivots: from student to founder, from suspension to seed-stage CEO, from controversy to capital. Each decision has placed him at the intersection of innovation and disruption, and he is leaning into the tension. Whether Cluely emerges as a new standard for AI-native tools or gets regulated out of mainstream use, Lee's story offers an early case study in what it means to build a career in an era where traditional rules are being rewritten by technology. TOI Education is on WhatsApp now. Follow us here . Ready to navigate global policies? Secure your overseas future. Get expert guidance now!
India Today
25-06-2025
- Business
- India Today
AI cheating startup Cluely CEO calls work-life balance a myth, says work should be your life
If you fancy working at one of Silicon Valley's more unconventional startups, be prepared to either code like your life depends on it or become the next social media sensation. That's the philosophy driving Cluely, a young artificial intelligence company that's already causing a stir for its bold approach to growth, hiring, and, apparently, work-life balance. The cofounder and CEO, Chungin 'Roy' Lee, has previously made headlines, claiming that cheating is the future, especially when AI is in the picture, and traditional recruitment procedures must be replaced with just looking at whether the candidate is a "cultural fit". Now, with these statements, we can only assume that Cleuly's work environment must be pretty chill. However, in the recent Business Insider interview, Lee cleared the air. advertisementCluely's team, which mostly lives and works together in the same house, embraces a philosophy that many would find extreme. 'Work-life balance? That's not really a thing here,' Lee said with a grin during the podcast. 'We wake up, we're at work. We go to sleep on the sofa if that's where we crash. The work is our life.'Lee argues that such a commitment is essential at this stage of the company's journey. 'When you're building something from scratch, it's not a 40-hour-a-week job,' he added. 'You have to be all in, or you'll be left behind.' According to Lee, everyone at Cluely understands and accepts what he describes as 'the madness required to make it.' It's a sentiment echoed by Silicon Valley veterans. LinkedIn cofounder Reid Hoffman has said that anyone expecting work-life balance at a startup probably isn't cut out for it. Hoffman's message indicates that if you want to succeed in the startup world, you need to be fully consumed by it. The focus, he insists, must stay firmly on the business. 'It's incredibly tough, and there are countless ways a business can fail,' he cautions, urging aspiring founders to recognise that building a company from the ground up is a relentless and demanding are only two kinds of people here,' Lee explained on a recent episode of the Sourcery podcast. 'You're either creating the product, or you're making sure the world can't stop talking about it.' The company, based in San Francisco, employs just engineers and influencers, no marketing departments, no sales teams, no middle managers. And if you don't fall neatly into either camp? According to Lee, you don't belong at startup initially grabbed attention with an eyebrow-raising promise, to help software engineers 'cheat' their way through job interviews. That pitch, which saw Lee briefly suspended from Columbia University over a prototype of the tool, generated both headlines and controversy. Cluely has since scrubbed overt references to 'cheating' from its website, but its core proposition remains the same, AI that quietly feeds users answers in real time by watching their screens, all while staying 'undetectable.'Lee's ambitions for Cluely go far beyond the niche world of technical interviews. The young founder believes the company's success hinges not on slick advertising, but on achieving what he calls cultural relevance. 'Our goal is to be everywhere, the biggest thing on TikTok, Instagram, you name it,' Lee said. 'It's not about polished campaigns. It's about understanding what makes people click, laugh, and share.'And that's where Cluely's influencer-heavy strategy comes in. 'You can hire marketers who've been scrolling for years, but they just don't get it the way someone truly plugged into online culture does,' Lee told Business Insider. 'The people creating these viral moments aren't sat in an office somewhere planning ads — they're living it.' His target? A billion views across platforms. - Ends
Yahoo
26-04-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Columbia student, who was suspended over his AI job interview cheating tool, raises $5.3 million in seed funding
AI service Cluely has raised $5.3 million in seed funding. The "cheating" site was founded by a Columbia student who was suspended from the school. The tool says it lets people cheat on "literally everything." Earlier this year, Chungin 'Roy' Lee announced he had been suspended from Columbia University after creating an artificial intelligence tool to help prospective software engineers cheat on job interviews. On Sunday, he announced he had raised $5.3 million in seed funding for that very same tool. That tool, initially called Interview Coder and now called Cluely, has been expanded. Instead of just helping people cheat on coding interviews, it now helps people cheat on "literally everything." And Lee says the technology will one day be as common as the calculator and spellcheck. "[To be honest], i don't think this is cheating," he wrote in a LinkedIn post announcing the funding. "[E]very single time technology has made people smarter, the world panics. then it adapts. then it forgets. and suddenly, it's normal. but this is different. humanity is at an inflection point. AI will transform the entire world, and it will be more disruptive than anything we've ever seen. Cluely is the bridge to a world where humans don't compete with machines—we grow with them." The announcement was accompanied by a video that showed how the tool could be used on a date, which some viewers have labeled creepy and compared to the dystopian Netflix show Black Mirror. Lee later clarified that "dates are not a real use case for the product." Cluely says it will help users "cheat" on everything from exams to sales calls, using an in-browser window that can't be seen by the other party online. The tool's AI reads the user's screen and eavesdrops on the audio, providing answers in real time. The company is charging $20 per month or $100 per year for unlimited usage. Lee was suspended by the university at the end of March, and his cofounder Neel Shanmugam, who is Cluely's COO, was also wrapped up in the disciplinary action. Both have since dropped out of the school. In a manifesto on the Cluely site, the founders argued AI redefines how the world works, saying there was no reason to memorize facts, write code, or research anything when the AI model can do it much faster. "Every time technology makes us smarter, the world panics," the manifesto reads. "Then it adapts. Then it forgets. And suddenly, it's normal… So, start cheating. Because when everyone does, no one is." This story was originally featured on Sign in to access your portfolio
