Last week, Grammarly released a controversial feature that uses AI to simulate editorial feedback. This makes it feel like we’re getting critiques from novelist Stephen King, the late scientist Carl Sagan, and technology journalist Carla Swisher. But Grammarly didn’t get permission to use the names of the hundreds of experts included in the feature, called “Expert Review.”
One of the authors affected, journalist Julia Angwin, filed a class action lawsuit against Superhuman, the parent company that owns Grammarly, alleging that the company violated her privacy and publicity rights, as well as those of other writers it impersonated. A class action lawsuit would allow writers to join Angwin’s lawsuit.
“After decades of honing my skills as a writer and editor, I am disappointed to learn that a technology company is selling a counterfeit version of my hard-earned expertise,” Angwin said in a statement.
This situation is not a little ironic. Angwin has spent his career leading research into the privacy impact of technology companies. Other critics of this type of technology were also included in Grammarly’s “Expert Reviews”, such as Timnit Gebru, a prominent AI ethicist.
The “Expert Reviews” feature is only available to subscribers who pay $144 a year, but as expected, it doesn’t live up to its promise of thoughtful feedback.
Casey Newton, founder and editor of the technology newsletter Platformer and another person impersonating Grammarly, entered one of his articles into the tool and got feedback from someone who Grammarly resembled technology journalist Kara Swisher. Grammarly’s imitation of Swisher generated “feedback” so common that it begged the question of why the company took such a rigorous role in using these writers’ likenesses in the first place.
Here’s what Grammarly’s Kara Swisher’s approximation told him: “Can you provide a quick comparison of how everyday AI users and AI skeptics can articulate risks and how our readers can follow?”
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Newton relayed the message from the AI approximation of Kara Swisher to Kara Swisher, an actual, real human.
“To all you greedy information and identity thieves out there, you better get ready for me to slam McConaughey to death,” Swisher texted Newton (see Grammarly). “Again, you’re the worst.”
Grammarly has since disabled its “Expert Review” feature, according to a LinkedIn post from Superhuman CEO Shishir Mehrotra. Mehrotra issued an apology but continued to defend the idea of the feature.
“Imagine a professor polishing your essay, a sales leader reshaping your pitch to a customer, a thoughtful critic challenging your arguments, and a leading expert elevating your proposal,” he wrote. “For professionals, this is an opportunity to build the same ubiquitous bond with users that Grammarly has.”
