Meet Chungin “Roy” Lee, a 21-year-old computer science student from Columbia University, who made headlines for secretly helping students cheat their way in tech interviews using AI. Lee was suspended by the university and called a “cheater” online, but instead of backing off, he took the same idea, doubled down, and built a company out of it.
And guess what? He just raised $5.3 million (Rs 44.3 crore approx) in pre-seed funding, reported India Today.
While most students spend hours preparing for LeetCode-style coding challenges used by tech giants like Amazon, Meta, and TikTok, Lee took a different route. He built Interview Coder, an AI tool that would quietly assist users in real-time during interviews, completely hidden from the screen.
But the stunt didn’t sit well with the tech industry. He was suspended from Columbia, blacklisted by Amazon, and called out for promoting cheating. Most people would’ve gone silent. But Lee? He went louder.
Along with fellow Columbia dropout Neel Shanmugam, he founded Cluely, a bold new AI startup that openly markets itself as a tool to “cheat on everything”. From exams to job interviews to sales calls, Cluely’s AI gives real-time support via an invisible browser window, completely undetectable, reports NDTV.
“They called calculators cheating. They called Google cheating. The world will say the same about AI. We’re not stopping,” Cluely posted on X.
They called calculators cheating.
They called Google cheating.
The world will say the same about AI.
We’re not stopping.@trycluely just raised a $5.3M pre-seed to build the future — faster. https://t.co/FAoyF6nWNb
— Cluely (@trycluely) April 21, 2025
The controversial tool has already made $3 million in annual revenue, and the recent funding has only added fuel to the fire. The startup dropped a launch video where Lee even uses the tool on a date.
Cluely is out. cheat on everything. pic.twitter.com/EsRXQaCfUI
— Roy (@im_roy_lee) April 20, 2025
From being suspended and shamed to raising crores to expand the same idea, Chungin Lee’s story is nothing short of wild!