Grammarly Accused of Identity Theft: Julia Angwin Leads the Charge

Journalist Julia Angwin has recently filed a class action lawsuit against the company Grammarly, alleging that her identity was used without permission in the company's AI editing feature "Expert Review." This lawsuit highlights controversial practices regarding the exploitation of writers' images and identities by Grammarly.

According to an investigation by Wired, Grammarly allegedly used the identities of several writers, including Angwin, without their prior consent. The complaint filed by Angwin accuses Grammarly of violating privacy and publicity rights by using the identities of "experts" for commercial purposes without their explicit agreement.

The discovery of Angwin's identity being used was facilitated by Casey Newton, another expert mentioned by The Verge during recent tests of the feature. Members of The Verge team, including editor-in-chief Nilay Patel, were also identified as being associated with the suggestions generated by Grammarly's AI.

In response to these allegations, Grammarly announced the deactivation of the implicated feature. The company has also set up an email inbox allowing writers and academics to request exclusion from this feature. Grammarly's CEO acknowledged the mistakes made and apologized, stating that the company would rethink its approach moving forward.