Grammarly's AI-powered Expert Review feature used the names and identities of hundreds of writers, journalists, and academics without consent to provide editing suggestions, leading to a class-action lawsuit and the feature's discontinuation.
In August 2025, Superhuman (Grammarly's parent company) launched an AI-powered Expert Review feature that offered writing feedback purportedly from established authors and academics including Stephen King, Neil deGrasse Tyson, and investigative journalist Julia Angwin. The feature used large language models to generate editing suggestions attributed to these real people without obtaining their consent. Users paid $12 monthly to receive this AI-generated feedback presented as coming from these experts. The feature operated for approximately eight months before being discontinued in March 2026 following significant public backlash. Julia Angwin filed a class-action lawsuit in the Southern District of New York alleging violation of New York and California publicity rights laws, seeking damages exceeding $5 million for the unauthorized commercial use of names and identities of hundreds of journalists, authors, and editors. The lawsuit argues that Grammarly monetized these individuals' professional reputations without permission and that the AI-generated advice was often poor quality, potentially damaging the real experts' reputations. Superhuman CEO Shishir Mehrotra apologized and announced the feature's discontinuation while stating the company would defend against the legal claims.
Domain classification, causal taxonomy, severity scores, and national security assessments were LLM-classified and may contain errors.
Using AI systems to gain a personal advantage over others such as through cheating, fraud, scams, blackmail or targeted manipulation of beliefs or behavior. Examples include AI-facilitated plagiarism for research or education, impersonating a trusted or fake individual for illegitimate financial benefit, or creating humiliating or sexual imagery.
Human
Due to a decision or action made by humans
Intentional
Due to an expected outcome from pursuing a goal
Post-deployment
Occurring after the AI model has been trained and deployed
