Latest news with #AcademicIntegrityPolicy
Time of India
02-08-2025
- Business
- Time of India
AI startup CEO who Amazon got suspended from college starts new ‘employee dating' policy: ‘Please message me directly…'
Image credit: LinkedIn Artificial Intelligence startup Cluely has introduced a new perk for employees: a matchmaking program that rewards staff for successfully referring dates for their colleagues. In a post shared on professional networking site LinkedIn, the company's CEO Chungin "Roy" Lee unveiled this "companywide policy". Under the new policy, employees will receive $500 (around Rs 43,000) for each successful date referral. The incentive is "stackable," meaning an employee can earn multiple bonuses by setting up different colleagues. The 21-year-old CEO was suspended from Columbia University after Amazon pressured the school over his AI tool, which provided undetectable real-time assistance in exams and interviews held in virtual settings. Lee even used the tool to succeed in interviews at major tech firms before publicly showcasing it, leading to revoked offers and a university investigation. What Cluely CEO said about the new employee dating policy Announcing the policy, Lee wrote: 'Cluely now offers $500 cash referrals for dates. Here's the memo I sent out today: "@everyone NEW COMPANY-WIDE POLICY: If any employee refers a date for any other employee (that they are happy with), the referring employee will receive a one-time cash bonus of $500. This is infinitely stackable. ie if Ben refers a date to Neel whom Neel is happy with, and then subsequently refers a date to Brandon, whom Brandon is happy with, Ben would receive $500 + $500 = $1,000" by Taboola by Taboola Sponsored Links Sponsored Links Promoted Links Promoted Links You May Like The Simple Morning Habit for a Flatter Belly After 50! Lulutox Undo Please message me directly if you find any members of the Cluely team attractive. Dating is, and will always be, an important part of our culture until we are all happily married.' Lee, who was a computer science student at Columbia University, was suspended last year for violating the university's Academic Integrity Policy. The AI tool he developed, which at that time was called Interview Coder, helped users with coding interviews. Using it, Lee even secured internship offers from tech giants like Amazon, Meta, and TikTok. He later shared a YouTube video demonstrating its use during an Amazon interview, which reportedly led Amazon to complain to Columbia University. In response, Lee said he had already declined the offer and defended his tool as a critique of outdated interview practices. 5 Tips to Get the Best Deals during sale on Amazon, Flipkart and other online websites AI Masterclass for Students. Upskill Young Ones Today!– Join Now
Time of India
25-07-2025
- 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!
