Grammarly's Own Expert Sues Over AI Identity Theft

Journalist Julia Angwin has initiated a class-action lawsuit following the discovery that her identity was utilized within Grammarly’s ‘Expert Review’ artificial intelligence editing feature.

For several months, Grammarly reportedly incorporated the identities of real individuals into its “Expert Review” AI suggestions without obtaining their consent. This practice has now culminated in a lawsuit from one of the affected journalists, as previously reported by Wired. The class-action complaint, filed by Angwin on Wednesday, specifically alleges that Superhuman infringed upon the privacy and publicity rights of these "experts" by violating laws prohibiting the commercial use of an individual's identity without their explicit permission.

Angwin revealed that she became aware of her inclusion through Casey Newton, who was also identified as one of the experts Grammarly was leveraging, a fact uncovered by The Verge during its recent testing of the feature. Furthermore, The Verge's investigation revealed that several of its current staff members, including editor-in-chief Nilay Patel, were linked to Grammarly’s AI-generated suggestions.

In response to the mounting concerns, Superhuman announced earlier on Wednesday its decision to disable the controversial feature. This move follows an earlier attempt this week to address the issue by launching an email inbox where writers and academics could submit requests to opt out.

Grammarly CEO Shishir Mehrotra offered a public apology, stating, “the agent was designed to help users discover influential perspectives and scholarship relevant to their work, while also providing meaningful ways for experts to build deeper relationships with their fans. We hear the feedback and recognize we fell short on this. I want to apologize and acknowledge that we’ll rethink our approach going forward.”