By RARZACK OLAEGBE
Some business executives are hypocrites. In the 1990s, some of them would buy a general-interest but lewd tabloid, Lagos Weekend, from the newsstand on Friday and tuck it underneath the intellectual Guardian newspaper. It was a façade. This smokescreen created an impression of a serious-minded, all-business persona. Aha.
On the one hand
Beneath the smokescreen were persons who shared a bed with pornography. And gossip magazines. These individuals would invest in underground businesses and walk the street in sartorial suits. Who would have thought such businesspeople would indulge in pornography?
On the other hand
Society frowns at some issues. And embraces the other. It is akin to some rusticated undergraduates who founded a company and got several million dollars from investors. What led to their expulsion was the same thing that brought them fame and fortune. It is akin to the venture capitalists who preached morals on Sunday but invested in gun running on Monday. Well, they would say it is a business, not a religion. Anyway, some highly placed individuals have not sold their hearts. Unlike the venture capitalists who invested in a business that assists users to cheat.
In the long term
Who are the venture capitalists who invested in Cluely, the AI start-up that helps users cheat? I do not know. But Cluely is a start-up that got venture capitalists’ million dollars. The start-up claims to help users cheat on job interviews, examinations, and sales calls. It has raised 15 million dollars in the initial fundraising. Andreessen Horowitz, one of the founders of Cluely, announced it recently with a video posted on X.
The two investors who were not part of the deal told TechCrunch they believe Cluely’s post-money valuation is around 120 million dollars. That is 192 billion naira. Horowitz declined to comment on that figure. Cluely CEO Roy Lee also kept mum. The start-up’s new funding came two months after it raised 5.3 million dollars in seed funding. Two firms led the business: Abstract Ventures and Susa Ventures.
Cluely was co-founded last year by a 21-year-old, Roy Lee, and Neel Shanmugam. These undergraduates were suspended from Columbia University for developing an undetectable AI-powered tool called “Interview Coder” to help engineers cheat on technical interviews. Lee said Cluely is profitable.
Ah, the school rusticated the students, and society embraced them. The wizkids are millionaires overnight. The journey to fame and fortune was to help users of their tool cheat. The implication is that you can use artificial intelligence for anything, including cheating. And some investors would bankroll your venture.
TechCrunch reported that Cluely published a slick but polarising video of Lee using a hidden AI assistant to lie to a woman about his age, and even his knowledge of art, on a date at a fancy restaurant. AI artwork!
In the short term
Meet six technology start-ups that did not get venture capitalists’ millions. What do they get? Technical mentorship from Google engineers and AI experts worth $350,000.
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