Cluely, founded by a 21-year-old Columbia dropout, started as a cheating tool and received $15 million in Series A funding by Andreessen Horowitz. The app acts as a real-time assistant that listens, transcribes, and summarizes conversations, claiming productivity for meetings and tutoring. Critics arise as it openly acknowledges its capacity for cheating and deception. In response, two Columbia students introduced Truely, an app designed to detect Cluely's stealth AI functionalities during virtual meetings. Cluely has shifted focus toward mainstream markets despite its controversial origins and functionality.
Cluely's current product is described as an invisible desktop assistant that listens through microphones, transcribes speech, identifies speakers, and provides real-time summaries.
San Francisco-based AI startup Cluely has been raising eyebrows as well as $15 million in Series A funding led by Andreessen Horowitz for marketing itself as a tool to cheat.
Cluely has also promoted its usefulness for cheating on exams, faking interviews, and monitoring private conversations, though the company now claims those use cases are not endorsed.
Two other Columbia students launched Truely, a rival app that claims to detect tools like Cluely during virtual meetings, marking an emerging competition in the market.
Collection
[
|
...
]