A controversial artificial intelligence (AI) startup that began as a tool for cheating in job interviews has secured $5.3 million in seed funding, despite its founders being suspended from Columbia University over its creation.

Cluely, co-founded by 21-year-olds Chungin "Roy" Lee and Neel Shanmugam, both former Columbia students, has raised the funding from investors including Abstract Ventures and Susa Ventures, according to a LinkedIn post by Lee on April 20.

In his LinkedIn post, Lee said, "I got kicked out of Columbia for building Interview Coder, AI to cheat on coding interviews. Now I raised $5.3 million to build Cluely, a cheating tool for literally everything."

The company's flagship product is an AI-powered browser tool that allows users to receive hidden assistance during job interviews, exams and sales calls—activities where external help is typically considered unethical.

"A completely undetectable AI that sees your screen, hears your audio, and gives you real-time assistance in any situation. Interviews, assignments, tests, sales calls, meetings — everything.

And tbh (to be honest), I don't think this is cheating. Every single time technology has made people smarter, the world panics. Then it adapts. then it forgets. And suddenly, it's normal." Lee added.

Mentioning that humanity is at an "inflection point," Lee also said, "AI will transform the entire world, and it will be more disruptive than anything we've ever seen. Cluely is the bridge to a world where humans don't compete with machines — we grow with them."

The tool, originally called Interview Coder, gained attention after a post by Lee on social media went viral. Lee claimed he was suspended by Columbia University after developing the tool with Shanmugam, prompting them to leave the institution and launch Cluely in San Francisco. However, Columbia has not made any official comment, citing student privacy regulations.

Cluely's website refers to its tool as enabling users to "cheat on everything," and compares its approach to disruptive technologies such as calculators and spellcheckers, which were initially viewed with scepticism.