Grammarly Allegedly ‘Misappropriated’ Names of Journalists, Says Class Action Suit

Last week, Wired’s Miles Klee reported on Grammarly’s AI text editing feature, called “Expert Review” which uses the names of journalists and other literary figures in conjunction with revision advice for writers. These experts—including my Gizmodo colleague Raymond Wong—served as “inspiration,” according to Grammarly. Writers had not been consulted about their inclusion. On Wednesday, the Expert Review feature was pulled. But on that same day, a class-action lawsuit was filed against Grammarly, alleging that the feature “misappropriated” the identities of the figures who ostensibly inspired it. The class in the class action lawsuit currently only has one named member: investigative journalist Julia Angwin, although it name checks notable figures named by Grammarly such as Stephen King. According to the text of the filing, the suit “challenges Grammarly’s misappropriation of the names and identities of hundreds of journalists, authors, writers, and editors to earn profits for Grammarly and its owner, Superhuman.” As noted in the lawsuit, California Civil Code § 3344(a)(1) reads as follows: “Any person who knowingly uses another’s name, voice, signature, photograph, or likeness, in