Grammarly's AI "Expert Review" Cloned Famous Writers Without Consent

Superhuman, the parent company of Grammarly, is facing a federal class action lawsuit over an AI feature called "Expert Review" that presented editing suggestions as if they came from real journalists, authors, and academics—none of whom consented to participate. The named plaintiff is Julia Angwin, the investigative journalist who founded The Markup, though the suit represents hundreds of writers whose names and likenesses were used commercially without permission.

Grammarly disabled the feature on the same day the suit was filed, with its product director acknowledging the company "clearly missed the mark." But the legal complaint, filed in the Southern District of New York, argues the damage is already done, and citing long-standing publicity rights laws in both New York and California that prohibit commercial use of a person's identity without consent. The suit does not specify a damages figure but claims the class total exceeds $5 million.

For financial services marketers exploring AI-powered content tools, this is a sharp reminder that using real names and likenesses in automated outputs carries real legal exposure, even when a disclaimer is technically present. The case is worth watching as a potential precedent for how courts treat AI-generated attribution at scale.

Full story: Wired