Boasting to Kill 9 Industries, 21-Year-Old Develops Life Cheat Tool, Once Expelled from Columbia and Harvard}

Many may still remember Roy Lee, a viral internet personality who was expelled from Harvard and Columbia University, then dropped out to start his own company, which successfully raised $5.3 million in funding. Now, his startup Cluely is a hot topic in the industry, especially in AI applications.

Recently, Roy Lee announced that his company's products are disrupting 9 industries, attracting over 600,000 viewers.

His story is closely tied to his turbulent university days. While at Columbia University, Roy Lee was expelled for developing an AI tool called "Interview Coder," which helped job seekers cheat during technical interviews. The tool could provide real-time solutions to coding problems during interviews, assisting users on platforms like LeetCode. Although Lee emphasized it was not for academic cheating, he was expelled nonetheless.

                ^{The CEO’s introduction on X explicitly states expulsion from Columbia and Harvard, showcasing a bold personality.}

After expulsion, Lee co-founded Cluely with fellow Columbia dropout Neel Shanmugam. The startup launched an AI tool called "Cluely," designed to assist users in interviews, exams, and sales calls by analyzing their screens and audio in real-time, offering suggestions and answers—earning it the nickname "life cheat tool."

In April 2025, Cluely secured a $5.3 million seed round from Abstract Ventures and Susa Ventures. By June 2025, it raised an additional $15 million in Series A led by Andreessen Horowitz (a16z). With continuous funding, Cluely’s products have been further refined and expanded. No wonder Lee claims Cluely has just killed 9 industries.

Lee describes Cluely as an AI desktop assistant that can see and hear what you do. It appears as a transparent window overlaying all other applications on your screen. When in meetings, pressing "Listen" or "Record" allows Cluely to capture microphone and system audio.

In a demo video, Lee shows a conversation with Neel, where Cluely pops up a real-time notebook, offers question suggestions, captures key points, and provides related answers and follow-up questions, enhancing communication. It also generates meeting summaries on a dashboard for easy review and sharing.

Cluely Kills 9 Industries?

Meeting distraction, AI does the full job

During team meetings, Cluely can automatically generate real-time notes, recording everything without manual effort. It can also suggest questions to make you look engaged, even when you’re multitasking. It can reply to questions and send follow-up emails automatically, keeping your focus on the meeting.

Clients think you’re serious, but AI is controlling the scene

Use Cluely to handle sales meetings effortlessly. It guides you through customer needs and closing tactics in real-time. It can answer technical questions and generate follow-up emails after meetings, ensuring smooth communication.

Customer service replacement

Cluely helps you respond to customer inquiries by pulling relevant info from your knowledge base, product docs, past tickets, and policies instantly. It also generates compliant replies, saving time and effort.

Cheating in class

Cluely can take notes during lectures, predict questions teachers might ask, and provide instant answers, helping students cheat seamlessly.

Interview and user research cheating

During interviews, Cluely can generate questions, follow-up prompts, and structured notes, ensuring you don’t miss key points. It helps craft questions and analyze user stories effectively.

Design cheating

Cluely acts as an invisible design mentor, silently evaluating your work and offering professional suggestions without interrupting your flow, making even beginners look like pros.

Instant software mastery

Use Cluely to learn editing in Adobe Premiere Pro effortlessly. It acts as an invisible tutor, automating professional operations and helping beginners quickly master editing skills.

Cheating in interviews and recruitment

During technical interviews, Cluely can detect syntax errors, generate deep technical questions, and analyze candidate thinking, making remote interviews as effective as in-person ones.

Your smart meeting secretary

After meetings, Cluely can summarize conversations into shareable notes. It can also turn these notes into interactive agents—answering questions like “What are my tasks from yesterday?” or “Who did I talk to today?” from vast meeting data.

Cluely’s emergence is a powerful disruption to traditional work methods. Despite ethical debates surrounding its use, Roy Lee and his team have redefined the possibilities of intelligent work. As technology advances, Cluely may continue to revolutionize more industries and lead a profound transformation.

^{Reference links:}

^{https://x.com/im_roy_lee/status/1938718987975827651}

^{https://techcrunch.com/2025/04/21/columbia-student-suspended-over-interview-cheating-tool-raises-5-3m-to-cheat-on-everything/?utm_source=chatgpt.com}