Grammarly Is Pulling Down Its Explosively Controversial Feature That Impersonates Writers Without Their Permission

“You rapacious information and identity thieves better get ready for me to go full McConaughey on you,” seethed tech journalist Kara Swisher, whose advice the feature claimed to offer. “Also, you suck.”

Now, Shishir Mehrotra, CEO of Grammarly’s owner Superhuman, has announced that the company is “disabling” the offending feature “while we reimagine the feature to make it more useful for users, while giving experts real control over how they want to be represented — or not represented at all.”

“We hear the feedback and recognize we fell short on this,” he added. “I want to apologize and acknowledge that we’ll rethink our approach going forward.”

Whether the company’s decision will calm the public outcry remains to be seen.

The company’s use of people’s names without their sign-off became a bitter flashpoint in the AI discourse. Even a virtual version of Newton himself was found handing out writing advice.

“I’ve long assumed that before too long, AI might take my job,” he wrote on Platformer. “I just assumed that someone would tell me when it happened.”