Grammarly is being sued for using real journalists' identities without consent in its AI 'Expert Review' feature. Journalist Julia Angwin filed a class-action complaint Wednesday against Superhuman Platform, Inc., alleging violations of privacy and publicity rights under laws prohibiting unauthorized commercial use of a person's identity.
Angwin learned her identity was being used through reporting by Casey Newton at Platformer. The Verge had previously identified multiple journalists used in the feature without permission. The lawsuit targets a product that had been operating this way for months before anyone named in it was notified.
The full complaint is public and worth reading: it details exactly how Grammarly framed these borrowed identities as willing expert endorsements, which is the core of the legal argument. The class-action structure means more plaintiffs could follow.
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