AI News Monitor

Chungin “Roy” Lee, the embattled founder of the AI startup Cluely, has a provocative prediction: Soon, he says, using artificial intelligence to “cheat” in everything from job interviews to dating will not just be normalized—it will be necessary.

Mr. Lee, who was expelled from Columbia University earlier this year after creating an AI tool designed to help candidates deceive their way through technical interviews, argues that society is hurtling toward a future in which refusing to use AI for personal advantage will leave people hopelessly behind.

“There’s a very, very scary and quickly growing gap between people who use AI and people who moralize against it,” Mr. Lee said in an email interview. “And that gap compounds: in productivity, education, opportunity and wealth.”

His company, Cluely, markets itself as a multipurpose AI assistant capable of aiding users in real-time conversations, whether in professional settings or personal ones. A promotional video for the app even depicts Mr. Lee relying on it to navigate a first date.

“We say ‘cheat on everything’ because, ironically, we believe this is the only path toward a future that is truly fair,” he said.

In a recent interview with the online publication EO, Mr. Lee elaborated on his vision, suggesting that AI will soon render traditional job interviews obsolete. Instead, he predicts, hiring decisions will rely on AI-generated profiles that assess candidates’ skills and cultural fit before any human interaction takes place.

“I already know all the work you’ve done, or at least the AI already knows the work you’ve done,” he said. “It knows how good it is. It knows what skills you’re good at, and if there is a skill match, then I should just be able to match you directly to the job.”

Mr. Lee’s views extend beyond hiring. He envisions a world where AI reshapes human cognition itself, augmenting thoughts in real time with the entirety of human knowledge.

“What happens when AI literally helps me think in real time?” he asked. “The entire way that humans will interact with each other, with the world, all of our thoughts will be changed.”

Critics argue that tools like Cluely undermine integrity and deepen societal inequities, but Mr. Lee insists that mass adoption of AI is the only way to prevent a dystopian divide between those who embrace the technology and those who reject it.

“The rate of societal progression will just expand and exponentiate significantly once everyone gets along to the fact that we’re all using AI now,” he said. “And that’s what Cluely hopes to achieve—to get everybody used to, ‘We’re all using AI now.’”

Whether society follows Mr. Lee’s lead—or resists it—remains to be seen. But one thing is clear: The debate over AI’s role in daily life is only just beginning.