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Yahoo
27-04-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Banned By Columbia, Backed By Millions: 21-Year-Old's AI Startup Cluely Lets You Cheat On Exams, Interviews, And Sales Calls
Cluely, a provocative AI startup born from academic controversy, just closed a $5.3 million seed round led by Abstract Ventures and Susa Ventures. According to Futurism, the company's core product is a real-time, invisible AI assistant that operates through a hidden browser overlay, giving users live answers during interviews, coding tests, exams, and even meetings. Don't Miss: 'Scrolling To UBI' — Deloitte's #1 fastest-growing software company allows users to earn money on their phones. Hasbro, MGM, and Skechers trust this AI marketing firm — . The founders, Chungin "Roy" Lee and Neel Shanmugam dropped out of Columbia University after being suspended for creating the early version of the tool, known then as Interview Coder. That tool, built to help candidates navigate technical interviews on platforms like LeetCode, quickly went viral and caught the attention of Columbia's disciplinary board. Within weeks of their suspension, the co-founders rebranded the product and announced the funding round on LinkedIn. Their AI, marketed as "completely undetectable," sees the screen, hears the audio, and feeds the user context-specific responses in real time. In an interview with the New York Times' "Hard Fork' podcast, co-founder Lee stated, 'I read the student handbook quite thoroughly before I actually started building this thing [...] but I didn't actually expect to get expelled at all. And the student handbook very explicitly doesn't mention anything about academic resources.' Trending: Donald Trump Just Announced a $500 Billion AI Infrastructure Deal — The $5.3 million funding round, completed in just a few weeks following Cluely's rebrand, is being seen as a sign of growing investor appetite for new forms of human-AI collaboration, particularly in areas where performance pressure and assessment bias remain high. Since launching its current version, Cluely has reported more than $3 million in annual recurring revenue. While critics have raised ethical questions about the software, supporters argue that it highlights inefficiencies in existing gatekeeping systems, particularly the widespread reliance on memorization-heavy assessments like LeetCode in technical hiring processes, writes Business Today. A recent promotional video shared by the founder on X showed Lee using the software during a date to fabricate knowledge and facts in real-time, sparking debate across social media. While some saw the demonstration as a humorous take on modern dating and digital dependence, others likened it to scenarios featured in dystopian fiction such as Black Mirror. Some developers have already attempted to counteract Cluely's software, with one Reddit user claiming to have created a Swift-based tool that detects the platform when it is the public controversy, the startup continues to gain traction across industries. Early adopters include tech workers preparing for job interviews, sales professionals seeking support during live calls, and students managing online exam environments. According to Fortune, Cluely offers unlimited access to its AI tool through a subscription model priced at $20 per month or $100 annually. With funding, momentum building, institutional support from respected venture firms, and rapidly growing user demand, Cluely is signaling a broader shift in the conversation around AI, merit, and human augmentation. Whether the world sees that as a threat or an evolution remains to be seen. Read Next: Here's what Americans think you need to be considered wealthy. Inspired by Uber and Airbnb – Deloitte's fastest-growing software company is transforming 7 billion smartphones into income-generating assets – Image: Shutterstock Up Next: Transform your trading with Benzinga Edge's one-of-a-kind market trade ideas and tools. Click now to access unique insights that can set you ahead in today's competitive market. Get the latest stock analysis from Benzinga? APPLE (AAPL): Free Stock Analysis Report TESLA (TSLA): Free Stock Analysis Report This article Banned By Columbia, Backed By Millions: 21-Year-Old's AI Startup Cluely Lets You Cheat On Exams, Interviews, And Sales Calls originally appeared on © 2025 Benzinga does not provide investment advice. All rights reserved. Sign in to access your portfolio
Yahoo
24-04-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
A new AI app that helps you cheat in conversations is slick, a little creepy, and not quite ready for your next meeting
Cluely is an AI tool built for cheating in live conversations, and it has raised $5.3 million. The startup is founded by Chungin "Roy" Lee, who was suspended from Columbia. I put the app through a mock interview to see if it could help me land a job. A Ivy Leaguer just released an AI app to feed live answers to users. I put it to the test to see if AI could interview as well as I did. Chungin "Roy" Lee — the Columbia student who went viral for creating an AI tool to "cheat" on job interviews — was suspended in March for posting content from a disciplinary hearing, the university said. His new app, Cluely, helps users by analyzing what's on their screens, hearing audio, and suggesting answers to questions, all without detection from the other side. In a LinkedIn post, Lee said Cluely is a "cheating tool for literally everything." Lee said on Monday that San Francisco-based Cluely has raised $5.3 million, backed by Abstract Ventures and Susa Ventures. Speaking to Business Insider on Wednesday night, Lee said that Cluely has gained about 70,000 users since its launch on Sunday. "It is pretty crazy. And this is just a lot more than we expected," he said. Lee said the concept of "cheating" needs to be rethought in the AI era. "Using AI is just inevitable and something that we should just all embrace," he said. I put Cluely to the test, and I saw promise — but also huge privacy concerns. I tested Cluely on Tuesday morning and paid $20 for the Pro version — a monthly subscription — since the free tier doesn't offer much. The interface is slick and minimal: a thin bar on the top of my screen. With one keyboard shortcut, Cluely scans my screen, then generates answers. I could also speak to it through my mic. It only works with what's already on my screen — it doesn't crawl the internet like ChatGPT. It also reads everything. I kept my Signal group chats closed. That's what makes it powerful — and also kind of terrifying. Lee told BI that Cluely doesn't save any data, and if it does, it's "heavily censored." "If there's something that you don't want to be seen, then you shouldn't use the tool, and it shouldn't be up while you're on sensitive information," Lee said. I deleted it right after writing this story. Cluely's killer pitch is real-time assistance. I let it scan my LinkedIn profile and kept it open while my editor put me through a mock interview with the same questions I answered to land this job. First up: What is my media consumption like? Could I share what I like to read or watch? What keeps me interested and busy? The app starts "thinking." Five seconds later, it gave me a summary of the question, not an answer. My editor tried again, more succinctly: "What media outlets do you read?" This time, Cluely came through: "I enjoy staying up to date with a mix of international and local news — typically from outlets like the New York Times, BBC, and CNA. I love longform journalism from The Atlantic and Wired, especially on tech and social issues. I also listen to 'The Daily' and 'Planet Money' during my commute." Not bad, though I don't listen to podcasts on my way to work. My editor asked me to talk about a difficult story I've worked on. 10 seconds of awkward silence later, Cluely offered: "One difficult story I worked on was about the impact of layoffs in the tech industry." I never wrote that story. The second hallucination came when the app said I had a "working knowledge of Malay." My editor congratulated me on my surprising — including to me — third language skill. It completely missed the elementary Korean listed on my LinkedIn. When my editor asked if I had questions for her, Cluely suggested a few basics: What do you enjoy most about working here? What's the team culture like? What does success look like in this role? Cluely's biggest flaw is speed. A five to 10-second delay feels like forever in a live interview. The answers were also too generic, occasionally wrong, and not tailored enough to me. It did generate decent answers to common questions. When I read them aloud, my editor said the biggest clue I had help was the delay, not the substance. She also said my real answers were better than Cluely's. Lee told BI that Cluely is in "a really raw state." "Our servers are super overloaded, so there's a lot of latency," he said. But there have been "significant performance updates" since the app went out on Sunday, he added. "We've upgraded all our servers, we've optimized the algorithms, and right now it should be about three times faster, which makes it much more usable in conversations." Lee said hallucinations will "exist insofar as the base models that we use allow for them." "The day that the models get better is the day that our product will get better," he added. There's definitely potential. If Cluely got faster, smarter, and could pull info from beyond just my screen, it could become a game-changing AI assistant. If I were hiring, I might think twice about conducting remote interviews because of these sorts of apps. But between the privacy risks, laggy performance, and random hallucinations, I'm keeping it off my computer. Read the original article on Business Insider
Business Insider
24-04-2025
- Business
- Business Insider
A new AI app that helps you cheat in conversations is slick, a little creepy, and not quite ready for your next meeting
A Ivy Leaguer just released an AI app to feed live answers to users. I put it to the test to see if AI could interview as well as I did. Chungin "Roy" Lee — the Columbia student who went viral for creating an AI tool to "cheat" on job interviews — was suspended in March for posting content from a disciplinary hearing, the university said. His new app, Cluely, helps users by analyzing what's on their screens, hearing audio, and suggesting answers to questions, all without detection from the other side. In a LinkedIn post, Lee said Cluely is a "cheating tool for literally everything." Lee said on Monday that San Francisco-based Cluely has raised $5.3 million, backed by Abstract Ventures and Susa Ventures. Speaking to Business Insider on Wednesday night, Lee said that Cluely has gained about 70,000 users since its launch on Sunday. "It is pretty crazy. And this is just a lot more than we expected," he said. Lee said the concept of "cheating" needs to be rethought in the AI era. "Using AI is just inevitable and something that we should just all embrace," he said. I put Cluely to the test, and I saw promise — but also huge privacy concerns. First impressions I tested Cluely on Tuesday morning and paid $20 for the Pro version — a monthly subscription — since the free tier doesn't offer much. The interface is slick and minimal: a thin bar on the top of my screen. With one keyboard shortcut, Cluely scans my screen, then generates answers. I could also speak to it through my mic. It only works with what's already on my screen — it doesn't crawl the internet like ChatGPT. It also reads everything. I kept my Signal group chats closed. That's what makes it powerful — and also kind of terrifying. Lee told BI that Cluely doesn't save any data, and if it does, it's "heavily censored." "If there's something that you don't want to be seen, then you shouldn't use the tool, and it shouldn't be up while you're on sensitive information," Lee said. I deleted it right after writing this story. Flopping my mock interview Cluely's killer pitch is real-time assistance. I let it scan my LinkedIn profile and kept it open while my editor put me through a mock interview with the same questions I answered to land this job. First up: What is my media consumption like? Could I share what I like to read or watch? What keeps me interested and busy? The app starts "thinking." Five seconds later, it gave me a summary of the question, not an answer. My editor tried again, more succinctly: "What media outlets do you read?" This time, Cluely came through: "I enjoy staying up to date with a mix of international and local news — typically from outlets like the New York Times, BBC, and CNA. I love longform journalism from The Atlantic and Wired, especially on tech and social issues. I also listen to 'The Daily' and 'Planet Money' during my commute." Not bad, though I don't listen to podcasts on my way to work. My editor asked me to talk about a difficult story I've worked on. 10 seconds of awkward silence later, Cluely offered: "One difficult story I worked on was about the impact of layoffs in the tech industry." I never wrote that story. The second hallucination came when the app said I had a "working knowledge of Malay." My editor congratulated me on my surprising — including to me — third language skill. It completely missed the elementary Korean listed on my LinkedIn. When my editor asked if I had questions for her, Cluely suggested a few basics: What do you enjoy most about working here? What's the team culture like? What does success look like in this role? Not worth the $20 — yet. Cluely's biggest flaw is speed. A five to 10-second delay feels like forever in a live interview. The answers were also too generic, occasionally wrong, and not tailored enough to me. It did generate decent answers to common questions. When I read them aloud, my editor said the biggest clue I had help was the delay, not the substance. She also said my real answers were better than Cluely's. Lee told BI that Cluely is in "a really raw state." "Our servers are super overloaded, so there's a lot of latency," he said. But there have been "significant performance updates" since the app went out on Sunday, he added. "We've upgraded all our servers, we've optimized the algorithms, and right now it should be about three times faster, which makes it much more usable in conversations." Lee said hallucinations will "exist insofar as the base models that we use allow for them." "The day that the models get better is the day that our product will get better," he added. There's definitely potential. If Cluely got faster, smarter, and could pull info from beyond just my screen, it could become a game-changing AI assistant. If I were hiring, I might think twice about conducting remote interviews because of these sorts of apps. But between the privacy risks, laggy performance, and random hallucinations, I'm keeping it off my computer.
Hindustan Times
22-04-2025
- Business
- Hindustan Times
AI startup that lets you ‘cheat' in interviews and exams gets $5.3 million boost
Cluely, a new AI startup founded by 21-year-old Chungin Lee, has secured $5.3 million in funding from Abstract Ventures and Susa Ventures. The startup is attracting attention for its bold positioning as an AI-powered tool that helps users 'cheat on everything.' As the name suggests, the AI tool offers real-time, hidden assistance during job interviews, exams, and sales calls. It provides answers via a concealed in-browser window that remains invisible to others, including interviewers and proctors. Cluely's origin story is as unconventional as its product. Lee, a former Columbia University student, went viral on X (formerly Twitter) after revealing he was suspended from the university for co-creating an earlier version of the tool. Named Interview Coder, it was built to assist software engineers in passing technical interviews using covert AI support. Rather than derail his ambitions, the suspension served as a launchpad. Lee and his co-founder expanded their idea into Cluely, a San Francisco-based company aiming to scale this AI-based assistance to broader scenarios beyond job interviews. In its online manifesto, the startup argues that tools like Cluely represent the next logical step in human-computer collaboration. However, the comparison is drawing mixed reactions, with critics warning that the tool encourages deception in professional and academic settings. Cluely released a launch video featuring Lee using the tool during a date to falsely claim knowledge about art and his own age. The video, though polished, has sparked debate over the company's ethical stance and approach to marketing. Some have called it a sharp satire of modern AI use, while others see it as normalising dishonesty. You can watch the video below. Despite the polarising premise, Cluely's ability to attract top-tier venture funding highlights continued investor interest in AI applications, even those that push ethical boundaries.
Associated Press
15-04-2025
- Business
- Associated Press
Friday Harbor raises $6M to help community mortgage lenders match the speed and efficiency of industry giants
- AI-powered platform enables lenders of all sizes to close loans faster, reduce costs and ensure compliance in real time - SEATTLE, Wash., April 15, 2025 (SEND2PRESS NEWSWIRE) — Friday Harbor, an AI-powered platform that helps loan officers assemble complete and compliant loan files in real time, today announced the completion of a $6 million seed round. The round was led by Abstract Ventures, a San Francisco-based venture firm with $1.5 billion in assets under management and a track record of backing breakout companies including Rippling, xAI, Hebbia, Brigit and Hippo (NYSE: HIPO) and Mischief, an early-stage VC fund co-founded by Plaid CEO Zach Perret. Also participating in the round were Wischoff Ventures, a VC firm founded by Blend (NYSE: BLND) alum Nichole Wischoff; and the AI2 Incubator, a technical incubator born from the Allen Institute for AI (AI2). With Friday Harbor's platform, lenders of all sizes can leverage AI to read and interpret borrower documents, generate a borrower-specific needs list, underwrite files and flag potential conditions—all in real time. Each flagged issue includes a suggested resolution, enabling loan officers to take action with a single click. By compressing what typically takes weeks of back-and-forth into just minutes, Friday Harbor reduces downstream friction and accelerates time to close. Friday Harbor was founded with a mission to make advanced AI tools accessible to all lenders—not just those with the biggest budgets. By replacing outdated, manual workflows and automating key underwriting steps, the platform empowers banks, credit unions and independent mortgage banks (IMBs) to match—or even surpass—the speed, cost-efficiency and borrower experience of mega-lenders like Rocket Companies and United Wholesale Mortgage, which together accounted for one-fifth of all IMB originations in 2024, according to Home Mortgage Disclosure Act data. 'I've always believed AI could be the great equalizer in mortgage lending,' said Friday Harbor CEO and Co-founder Theo Ellis. 'Thousands of lenders deserve access to the same tools as the mega-lenders—and in many cases, they're now doing things the biggest players can't. That's what happens when you give lenders technology built by people who truly understand both AI and mortgage.' Early adopters of Friday Harbor confirm the system's ability to address costly 'stare and compare' tasks and mitigate errors that slow loan production: Friday Harbor was founded by Ellis and Jesse Collins (CTO) and launched in 2024 with support from the AI2 Incubator and CoFound Partners. Ellis was previously head of U.S. growth and an early employee at machine learning fintech Pagaya Technologies (NASDAQ: PGY), where he helped launch multiple new consumer credit verticals for the company. Collins previously held senior engineering roles at leading fintech companies including Affirm (NASDAQ: AFRM) and Zillow (NASDAQ: Z), where he specialized in applying artificial intelligence to fraud detection and underwriting systems. The $6M seed round will support the growth of Friday Harbor's engineering team and support integrations with leading mortgage LOS and point-of-sale platforms—paving the way for more lenders to automate file setup, accelerate underwriting and compete directly with the largest lenders in the country. About Friday Harbor Friday Harbor is an AI-powered platform that helps loan officers assemble complete and compliant loan files in real time. The company combines deep fintech expertise with cutting-edge artificial intelligence to remove complexity, slash origination costs and deliver a better borrower experience. For more information, visit Tags: #mortgagetech #AI #fintech #seedfunding #venturecapital LOGO link for media: NEWS SOURCE: Friday Harbor ### MEDIA ONLY CONTACT: (not for publication online or in print) Leslie W. Colley Depth for Friday Harbor [email protected] (678) 622-6229 ### Keywords: Mortgage, Friday Harbor Inc, AI-powered platform that helps loan officers, SEATTLE, Wash. This press release was issued on behalf of the news source (Friday Harbor) who is solely responsibile for its accuracy, by Send2Press® Newswire. Information is believed accurate but not guaranteed. Story ID: S2P125538 APNF0325A To view the original version, visit: © 2025 Send2Press® Newswire, a press release distribution service, Calif., USA. RIGHTS GRANTED FOR REPRODUCTION IN WHOLE OR IN PART BY ANY LEGITIMATE MEDIA OUTLET - SUCH AS NEWSPAPER, BROADCAST OR TRADE PERIODICAL. MAY NOT BE USED ON ANY NON-MEDIA WEBSITE PROMOTING PR OR MARKETING SERVICES OR CONTENT DEVELOPMENT. Disclaimer: This press release content was not created by nor issued by the Associated Press (AP). Content below is unrelated to this news story.
