Student techie builds AI tool to cheat six-figure-salary job interview, gets suspended but secures over $5 million in seed funding

Economic Times

2 days ago

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?