Grammarly will keep using authors' identities without permission unless they opt-out

"Last week, my colleagues discovered that Superhuman's Grammarly had turned me into an AI editor, using my real name, without ever asking my permission. They did the same to my boss Nilay Patel, my colleagues David Pierce and Tom Warren, and - as Wired initially reported last Wednesday - many authors far more famous than us. Grammarly's new "Expert Review" feature uses our names to give its AI suggestions credibility that they don't deserve."

"Now, Grammarly has finally addressed the backlash - but not by apologizing, and not by walking the feature back. For now, it will graciously give us the chance to opt-out of something we didn't know it was doing to begin with."

""Grammarly declined my request to interview CEO Shishir Mehrotra today," writes my former colleague Casey Newton in the latest issue of Platformer. "But it told me that in response to criticisms, it will allow experts to opt out of the feature by emailing [e-mail].""

Grammarly's Superhuman product created an Expert Review feature that used real names of journalists and authors, including Sean Hollister and other prominent writers, to provide credibility to AI-generated editing suggestions without obtaining permission. When colleagues discovered this practice, significant backlash ensued. Rather than apologizing or discontinuing the feature, Grammarly responded by offering affected individuals the opportunity to opt out through an email address. The company declined interview requests from media outlets and provided only a brief statement acknowledging feedback while defending the product's functionality.

Read at The Verge