Grammarly pulls AI author-impersonation tool after backlash
Writers criticised the feature which used their names and styles as "AI personas" without consent.
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Notable Quotes
"I had thought of deepfakes as something that happens to celebrities, mostly around images."
— Julia Angwin , Academic
"Over the past week, we received valid critical feedback from experts who are concerned that the agent misrepresented their voices."
— Shishir Mehrotra , Executive
"After careful consideration, we have decided to disable Expert Review as we reimagine the feature to make it more useful for users, while giving experts real control over how they want to be represented—or not represented at all."
— Ailian Gan , Executive
"The claims in the lawsuit are without merit and will strongly defend against them."
— Shishir Mehrotra , Executive
"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."
— Shishir Mehrotra , Executive
"You rapacious information and identity thieves better get ready for me to go full McConaughey on you. Also, you suck."
— Kara Swisher , Influencer
"We hear the feedback and recognize we fell short on this."
— Shishir Mehrotra , Executive
"I’ve long assumed that before too long, AI might take my job."
— Casey Newton , Influencer
Key People
Ailian Gan is the director for product management at Superhuman.
Author and copy editor with a focus on language and writing.
Tech journalist and founder of Platformer.
An investigative journalist and New York Times contributing opinion writer.
Tech journalist known for her work in technology and digital media.
Neil deGrasse Tyson is an astrophysicist and science communicator known for popularizing science.
Lawyer representing the plaintiffs in the class-action lawsuit against Superhuman and Grammarly.
Chief executive of Superhuman, the tech firm that runs Grammarly.
Stephen King is a renowned author known for his horror, supernatural fiction, suspense, and fantasy novels.
Tags
All Coverage
Writers criticised the feature which used their names and styles as "AI personas" without consent.
Grammarly has disabled its 'Expert Review' AI feature following criticism that it used the identities and styles of various writers and editors without permission.
Grammarly is facing a class action lawsuit over its AI 'Expert Review' feature, which presented editing suggestions as if they came from established authors and academics without their consent.
Grammarly's 'Expert Review' tool, which offers writing feedback framed through the voices of real authors, journalists, and academics without their consent, has sparked backlash over consent issues.
Grammarly is discontinuing its 'Expert Review' feature, which impersonated writers without their permission, following significant backlash.
Grammarly has disabled its 'Expert Review' feature, which offered AI-generated feedback credited to real writers, following backlash over consent issues.
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