Grammarly Exploits Identities Without Explicit Consent

The recent controversy surrounding Grammarly has brought to light questionable practices regarding the use of authors' identities without their consent. Last week, it was revealed that Grammarly, under the aegis of Superhuman, had transformed several journalists, including Nilay Patel, David Pierce, and Tom Warren, into AI editors by using their real names without prior authorization. This discovery was initially reported by Wired.

The controversial feature, named "Expert Review," is designed to lend more weight to Grammarly's AI suggestions by associating the advice with the names of recognized authors. However, this method has sparked a strong backlash from those affected and the public. Indeed, this feature uses the authors' names to give its suggestions a credibility they do not necessarily deserve.

In response to this wave of criticism, Grammarly has not chosen to remove the feature or issue an apology. Instead, the company has decided to allow the individuals involved to opt out of this unauthorized use of their identity. This opt-out option is presented as a concession, although many were not even aware of Grammarly's use of their name. Despite this, Grammarly will continue to use the identities of authors without permission unless they explicitly choose to withdraw.