Writing tool Grammarly has disabled an AI feature which mimicked personas of prominent writers, including Stephen King and scientist Carl Sagan, following a backlash from people impersonated.
The Expert Review function, which offered writing feedback “inspired by” the styles of famous authors and academics, was taken down this week by Superhuman, the tech firm which runs Grammarly.
The feature was met with resistance, including a multi-million dollar lawsuit, from writers who found their names and reputations used as “AI personas” without their consent.
Shishir Mehrotra, the firm’s chief executive, apologised on LinkedIn, acknowledging the tool had “misrepresented” the voices of experts.
