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Grammarly Faces Lawsuit Over AI-Powered 'Expert Review' Feature Using Unapproved Author Likenesses

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Grammarly recently launched a controversial feature called Expert Review, which uses AI to simulate editorial feedback from notable figures like Stephen King, Carl Sagan, and Kara Swisher. However, the company did not acquire permission from these experts to use their identities, sparking backlash.

  • Journalist Julia Angwin has filed a class action lawsuit against Superhuman, Grammarly's parent company, for violating privacy and publicity rights. This lawsuit represents all writers whose identities were used without consent.
  • Criticism has risen against the feature's utility and ethical considerations. Casey Newton, a tech journalist, tested the tool and found the feedback too generic to justify its claims.
  • Kara Swisher humorously critiqued Grammarly following Newton's report.
  • Superhuman CEO Shishir Mehrotra has since disabled the feature and apologized, but still defended the concept as a potential user-expert interaction model.