“Start Cheating.” What Cluely AI Gets Right and Dangerously Wrong
The premise? Cluely AI watches your screen, listens to your meetings, and feeds you real-time answers so you always have the edge. It promises to make you unbeatable in sales calls...
“We want to cheat on everything. Yep, you heard that right.”
That’s the opening line of Cluely AI’s manifesto. It’s bold, unapologetic, and, let’s be honest, unsettling.
The premise? Cluely AI watches your screen, listens to your meetings, and feeds you real-time answers so you always have the edge. It promises to make you unbeatable in sales calls, negotiations, pitches, or any high-stakes situation where thinking fast matters.
But behind the clever marketing and provocative messaging lies a set of far more serious questions—not about what this technology does, but about what kind of world it creates.
Productivity, Performance… and Permission
There’s no question that Cluely taps into a growing cultural truth: the value of intelligence is being redefined.
In an AI-powered world, the best communicator, negotiator, or decision-maker isn’t necessarily the most prepared or informed — it’s the one who knows how to prompt the system, navigate the augmentation, and ask the right question.
Cluely’s creators argue:
“Why memorize facts, write code, research anything — when a model can do it in seconds?”
But just because it can, does that mean it should?
What This Teaches Students... Our Kids?
To students and educators, this manifesto is a seismic provocation.
If we normalise “cheating” — whether it’s via Cluely, ChatGPT, or future AI co-pilots — what happens to:
Learning by doing? In fact, the only way to learn. Seriously, the ONLY way!
Are you struggling with a problem that helps build critical thinking muscles?
These aren’t just academic exercises. They’re the foundation of resilience, originality, and independent thought.
When you short-circuit that process, what kind of thinkers are we raising?
And when everyone is “cheating,” what does excellence look like anymore?
What This Signals in the Workplace
The promise of Cluely AI is irresistible for sales teams, executives, and fast-moving professionals:
Are you misrepresenting yourself in a meeting if AI is feeding you lines?
Is a negotiation fair if your side has AI whispering strategic prompts while the other doesn’t?
Are we at risk of automating manipulation?
There’s a fine line between
What It Means for Trust
In a world where AI is embedded in every conversation, where tools like Cluely are feeding live data into our ears and keyboards,
Will we need to disclose when AI is helping us?
Will trust erode if people assume they’re always talking to a “cyborg” version of you?
Will relationships — in business, education, and even friendships — become shallower, scripted, or transactional?
Trust is already fragile in the digital age. Tools like Cluely could accelerate that erosion — unless we draw more precise boundaries now.
Capability ≠ Permission
Cluely’s creators invoke history to justify their position:
A New Definition of Cheating?
Maybe the most critical question Cluely AI raises isn’t about its technology. It’s about our values:
Let’s Talk About It
This article isn’t a takedown of Cluely AI. It’s a
Would you use a tool like Cluely?
Is it clever augmentation — or the normalisation of dishonesty?
Should we teach students to “cheat smarter,” or draw firmer ethical lines?
What are the long-term implications of this shift?
I would love to hear your thoughts in the comments below. Your perspective is crucial in this conversation about what this manifesto demands.
I hope you enjoyed this article.
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