Andreessen Horowitz Backs AI Startup Whose Motto Is ‘Cheat at Everything’

By now, it’s well established that one of AI’s biggest accomplishments is to help Americans cheat at life. Students are using it to cheat on their homework, teachers are using it to cheat at grading homework, sad and horny men are using it to cheat themselves out of having a girlfriend, actors are using it to cheat at ethnic accents, and some lawyers are even using it to cheat on legal filings. Given all the cheating that’s been happening, it just makes sense that a company would come along that fully leans into AI’s primary function, which is to help our country slack off big time while pretending to work really hard. I guess it also makes sense that Silicon Valley’s most craven money men would think this was a great idea and proceed to throw copious amounts of cash at it.

On Friday, mega venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz announced investment in a startup called Cluely Inc., a company whose motto is “Cheat at Everything.” Cluely sells what it refers to as a “discrete” desktop app that it claims can help people pretend (in meetings or during phone calls) like they came up with something smart to say when, in actuality, it was generated by an algorithm. Bloomberg reports that the VC’s investment was part of a $15 million funding round for the up-and-coming company.

“We want to cheat on everything,” Cluely’s website boasts. “Yep, you heard that right. Sales calls. Meetings. Negotiations. If there’s a faster way to win — we’ll take it.” It continues: “We built Cluely so you never have to think alone again. It sees your screen. Hears your audio. Feeds you answers in real time. While others guess — you’re already right.”

On the one hand, it’s almost refreshing to see a company that isn’t pretending to make the world a better place, and is instead content to embrace the spirit of chaotic, money-crazed technocracy that currently dominates our culture. On the other hand, I can’t think of a faster way to intensively stupidify the human population than for people to start using this app.

Cluely has multiple subscription tiers, including a free one (which offers users “5 pro responses a day”) and a paid one (which is $20 and gives you unlimited “pro responses”). Then there’s an “enterprise” tier, where—if you want to train an entire team of slackers and thus build a workforce whose superpower is not doing their job—you can shell out some undisclosed amount of money to establish a custom relationship with them. The whole thing vaguely reeks of a runaway frat house joke, which is appropriate since Cluely’s co-founder, Roy Lee, is a 21-year-old who was previously kicked out of Columbia University after he created an AI tool that helped him cheat his way through Amazon’s job interview process.

Apparently, Andreessen Horowitz loves Cluely. “We’re excited to announce our investment in Cluely, the AI-powered desktop assistant that delivers real-time support during everyday moments — whether meetings, customer support calls, project brainstorming sessions, or collaborative tasks,” the company said in its blog post. “Cluely’s AI-powered assistant operates discreetly on users’ desktops, intelligently interpreting live audio and on-screen context to deliver proactive insights. This lightweight tool has quickly become important in high-stakes professional settings.”