--- title: "Columbia Student Kicked Out for Creating AI to Cheat, Raises Millions to Turn It Into a Startup" description: "Over the past few months, a 21-year-old undergraduate went from viral sensation to startup founder after getting kicked out of Columbia for creating an AI that helps you cheat. In a LinkedIn post announcing a very successful seed fundraising round, founder Chungin \"Roy\" Lee explained that his software, which was formerly called Interview Coder and is now called Cluely, is a \"completely undetectable AI that sees your screen, hears your audio, and gives you real-time assistance in any situation.\" To Lee's mind, that use case doesn't constitute \"cheating.\" Columbia, clearly, disagreed when it sought disciplinary action against him and his […]" date: "2025-04-22" modified: "2025-04-22" authors: - name: "Noor Al-Sibai" job_title: "Senior Staff Writer" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/nooralsibai" url: "https://futurism.com/columbia-student-ai-cheating-startup" categories: - "Artificial Intelligence" tags: - "cheating" - "coding" - "columbia" - "Startups" --- # Columbia Student Kicked Out for Creating AI to Cheat, Raises Millions to Turn It Into a Startup ![A 21-year-old went from viral sensation to startup founder after getting kicked out of Columbia for creating an AI that helps you cheat. ]() *\Image: Getty / Futurism\* Over the past few months, a 21-year-old undergraduate went from viral sensation to startup founder after getting suspended by Columbia for creating an AI that helps you cheat. In a [LinkedIn post]() announcing a successful seed fundraising round, founder Chungin "Roy" Lee explained that his software, which was formerly called Interview Coder and is now called Cluely, is a "completely undetectable AI that sees your screen, hears your audio, and gives you real-time assistance in any situation." To Lee's mind, that use case doesn't constitute "cheating." Columbia, clearly, disagreed when it [sought disciplinary action]() against him and his cofounder Neel Shanmugam when since-deleted recorded demos of the tool, which initially just helped people "cheat" on job interviews that use the [notoriously difficult]() LeetCode testing platform — [went viral](). As Lee explained in an [interview]() with the *New York Times'* "Hard Fork" podcast, he was more surprised to find himself "flooded with disciplinary messages from Columbia" than when he was offered internships at Amazon and other companies after using the AI to ace his interviews. "I read the student handbook quite thoroughly before I actually started building this thing, because I was ready to burn bridges with Amazon, but I didn’t actually expect to get expelled at all," the youthful tech founder told podcast host Kevin Roose. "And the student handbook very explicitly doesn’t mention anything about academic resources." When the *NYT* reached out to Columbia to ask why Shanmugam and Lee were disciplined for building an AI that was, ostensibly, not being used to cheat on schoolwork, the school denied comment, citing federal privacy regulations. Both cofounders, meanwhile, [decided to drop out]() and pursue "cheating" full-time. They made customized "[F\*ck Leetcode]()" condoms, rebranded as Cluely, filmed a "[Black Mirror]()"-esque demo video, and raised $5.3 million in seed funding — all in the last month. For all the hype surrounding Cluely and its Ivy League bad boy cofounders, its main conceit — that it's "undetectable" — may not be relevant for much longer. In a recent [post on the r/webdev subreddit](), a user claims to have created, with "just a few lines of Swift code," a detection tool that can unmask Cluely and identify the interviewer. Whether that tool works remains to be seen — but hopefully, building the buzzy new AI will have been worth giving up an Ivy League education. **More on AI startup founders:** [*CEO of Song-Generating AI App Says People "Don't Enjoy" Making Music With Instruments*]() ## Author At Futurism, I've often been drawn to unpacking the narratives that underlie technological, scientific and medical progress, with a special interest in areas of conflict and ambiguity that end up setting agendas and steering the fates of both elites and the hoi polloi. I'm a committed generalist, but I often find myself returning to work involving NASA and the private space sector, the effects of AI on media and society, and the mechanics of the pharmaceutical industry, with a specific focus on the spread of GLP-1 drugs like Ozempic and Wegovy. Prior to Futurism, I worked for publications ranging from Media Matters and Truthdig to Raw Story and Bustle. I'm also the author of "Myspace Scene Queens," a 2024 title in Instar Books' acclaimed "Remember the Internet" series. My work at Futurism has been cited by outlets including the New Yorker, Slate, Nieman Lab, the Verge, the MIT Technology Review, the Sunday Times, and the Daily Beast. I grew up in North Carolina, attended the University of North Carolina at Asheville, and now live in Brooklyn, New York. In my free time, I'm an avid reader and music fan; you can probably find me at a local poetry reading, concert, underground rave, or DJ set. I'm the proud parent of an ineffable orange cat named Mee-Mow. ### Author social links [Bluesky]()