tellyworthMar 11
evacide

I know that bad news is coming when a co-worker messages me with "You're gonna be so mad..."

Grammarly has rolled out an AI-powered "expert review" feature where its simulacrum of me makes suggestions for your text. My real edits are usually along the lines of "Throw this into the sea."

Mar 11 at 12:13amWeb
Show threadJosh Mar 11
@evacide how is this legal? Everything else aside, they’re literally impersonating people and falsely attributing statements to them. This seems like it’s pretty clearly defamation.
Show threadThe Drop Bear 2.0 Mar 11
@josh0 it feels like ‘inspired by’ is doing a lot of heavy lifting here 😬@evacide
Show threadShanie MyrsTearMar 11
@dropbear @josh0 @evacide It should be inspiring lawyers to win some stupid prizes.
Show threadJosh Mar 11
@shanie @dropbear @evacide has there ever been a class action defamation suit before?
Show threadneoludditeMar 11
@josh0 @shanie @dropbear @evacide Not defamation, but it seems like a pretty clear violation of Eva's moral rights. Whether it's enough for legal action in the US though is a different question (see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moral_rights)
Moral rights - Wikipedia

Show threadJosh Mar 11

@neoluddite @shanie @dropbear @evacide they’re publicly making false statements about people with sufficient reputation that you’d want their editing advice, but giving advice those people not only didn’t make but possibly disagree with and is possibly simply wrong. There is a strong claim that this therefore damages their reputations, which seems like a pretty clear-cut case of defamation to me.

Defamation is only a crime in certain US states, but this occurred in all of the states plus many other countries where defamation is a crime.

Show threadneoludditeMar 11
@josh0 read the original post more carefully. It's not a false statement to say that a response is "inspired by Bruce Schneier", so you're into moral rights, IP, trademarks, etc. For example, I doubt they'd do an "inspired by Taylor Swift", because she'd sue them into oblivion for infringing her trademarks: https://www.wipo.int/en/web/wipo-magazine/articles/taylor-swift-trademark-strategy-a-model-for-artist-ip-protection-78728
Taylor Swift trademark strategy: a model for artist IP protection

From The Life of a Showgirl to cat names: Learn how Taylor Swift's 400+ trademark filings and sweeping IP strategy offer lessons for artists worldwide.

Show threadJosh Mar 11
@neoluddite ah, I see what you’re saying now. It will be interesting to see how this plays out, though, because ‘inspired’ seems like it’s still a false statement. Are LLMs capable of being inspired? I would argue that they are not, and so the use of the word is just a blatant attempt to avoid liability for what is actually a clear attempt to borrow the legitimacy of a subject matter expert to cover something they did not and would not say. This is very different from hiring an impersonator, and litigating it will require finely parsing the legal (and probably technical) difference between human creativity and machine learning.
Show threadneoludditeMar 11

@josh0 none of which really matters. The Grammarly legal team will already have been over the obvious stuff, eg. an LLM may not be able to be inspired, but the company and people that created it can be. Similarly for human creativity vs. a machine, it's not relevant.

What matters is what specific rights have been violated, whether you can prove that in court and how deep your pockets are when bringing a civil suit. Unless there's a trademark involved, you're getting into things like "unfair competition" and the authors right to publicity and it all seems pretty hazy (see https://cyber.harvard.edu/property/library/moralprimer.html and https://www.lexology.com/library/detail.aspx?g=1f496bd5-24bb-409c-9043-39a3ed0b4a71)

Moral Rights Basics

Show threaddragonfrogMar 11
@josh0 @neoluddite LLMs can't be "inspired" but they can be trained on a particular person's writings and speeches without that person's consent (or theoretically with their consent but this is AI bro country so obviously without).
Show threadTom HeadMar 11
@evacide did Grammarly seek your permission to do this?
Show threadevacideMar 11
@tomhead Ha ha. No.
Show threadJohn TimaeusMar 11

@evacide @tomhead

I'm guessing you know a lawyer capable of suing them back to the dark ages?

Show threadLeon P SmithMar 11
@evacide @tomhead surely there has to be a fairly strong legal argument here, at least one of which revolves around one's right of publicity.
Show threadPax Ahimsa GethenMar 11

@leon_p_smith @evacide @tomhead

Maybe the living experts that Grammarly has appropriated can put together a class-action lawsuit. Some big names in the list, including Stephen King and Neil deGrasse Tyson.

https://www.wired.com/story/grammarly-is-offering-expert-ai-reviews-from-your-favorite-authors-dead-or-alive/

Grammarly Is Offering ‘Expert’ AI Reviews From Your Favorite Authors—Dead or Alive

The tool, offered by the recently-rebranded company Superhuman, gives feedback based on the work of famous dead and living writers—without their permission.

WIRED
Show threadMatt GriffinMar 11
@evacide the gall...
Show threadJessamynMar 11
@evacide I saw that they're offering an "opt out" feature for experts, but it's still 100% total bullshit that they did this.
Show threadPax Ahimsa GethenMar 11

@jessamyn @evacide

Agreed, 100% unethical whether it's legal or not.

Show threadPax Ahimsa GethenMar 11

@jessamyn @evacide

As said in this Verge article: "I don’t use Grammarly, and the only reason I found out my name was appropriated is because two journalists at The Verge decided to test it. "

https://www.theverge.com/tech/891822/grammarly-superhuman-expert-review-names-without-permission-opt-out-email

Grammarly will keep using authors’ identities without permission unless they opt out

Grammarly has addressed the backlash against it appropriating authors’ names for its Expert Review feature. It will offer an opt-out email.

The Verge
Show threadReneeReadsSciFiMar 11
@funcrunch @jessamyn @evacide How is this not identity theft? Because it’s rich people claiming you support their company and not poor people trying to get a loan?
Show thread0xC01DC0FFEEMar 11
@jessamyn @evacide using an opt-out system for a use case where it would have been entirely feasible to ask everyone affected for permission is just incredible assholery 
Show threadJessamynMar 11
@0xC01DC0FFEE @evacide Absolutely. And from what I heard they only added the opt out after people got rightly furious with it.
Show threadLudwig VielfrassMar 11

@jessamyn @0xC01DC0FFEE @evacide because they knew what the answer would be.

I would like to opt-out of opting out.

Show threadPamela Barroway – Biz EditorMar 11
@evacide Holy shit. 😳
Show threadEmma needs ☕️ and paying workMar 11
@evacide the AI filth aren't even waiting for our bodies to be cold to steal our labor.
Show threadRemember Remember 7th NovemberMar 11
@evacide I doubt Bruce will be too pleased either.
Show threadBen Haylock Mar 11

@evacide Seems your Sloppelgänger is doing a great ¹ job.

¹ For some fraction of ‘great’

Show thread🐦‍🔥nemo™🐦‍⬛ 🇺🇦🍉Mar 11

@evacide
@zbender

Sloppelgaenger xD hahah – kudos 💡 with your permission I'm a gonna use that term too… full credit to you 💡 🙏 Namastea

Show threadBen Haylock Mar 11

@nemo @evacide Oh no, it belongs to Ingrid!

https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:lramywa3zq6icaphp7aora5p/post/3mgqaymhkf227

Ingrid Burrington (@lifewinning.com)

This author has chosen to make their posts visible only to people who are signed in.

Bluesky Social
Show thread🐦‍🔥nemo™🐦‍⬛ 🇺🇦🍉Mar 11

@evacide
@zbender

Ahhh 💡 ✅ Thank you :D 💚 🙏 #gif
Love that termn xD Hahah

https://tenor.com/view/that-was-educational-gif-11127511955633849787

Sincerely

Tenor
Show threadAdam Shostack  Mar 11
@evacide I'm even madder than you! 🤷
Show threadSraarsMar 11
@evacide Nice. Now people can say “it met with Ai Eva’s approval”
Show threadxinniwMar 11
@evacide the crikey fuck?
Show threadDaveMar 11
@evacide I have been refusing to use Grammarly for YEARS even as my Director has insisted we use it but I didn’t imagine this level of bullshittery
Show threadPseudo NymMar 11

@Dave3307 @evacide

We banned it at my last two companies as their privacy policy was terrible.

Sending your company's confidential and sensitive info through a 3rd party who explicitly doesn't claim to protect it was an unacceptable business risk.

Show threadDaveMar 11
@pseudonym Intentionally putting a keystroke logger on your computer is insane, the fact our IT guy allowed it made me assume he is incompetent
Show threadferricoxideMar 11
@evacide

Are you at least getting paid for their AI to model their suggestions on you?
Show threaddavecb 🇨🇦Mar 11

@evacide in Canada, this offering "raises significant legal issues", primarily around the concepts of identity fraud and misrepresentation.

Providing a simulacrum at the request of a person may be legal. If it's done without their consent or for deceptive purposes, it could lead to criminal charges under section 403 of the Criminal Code.

I don't see any caselaw touching on this.

As always, "seek legal advice" (:-))

Show threaddraNgNonMar 11

@evacide I can't even fathom this

Like this level of bullshit is why the Hollywood guilds went on strike, no? And so many people said they were overreacting to AI

How do you even find if your name is on that list?

Show threaddraNgNonMar 11

@evacide I found this tech crunch article mentioning @caseynewton and @timnitGebru were offered experts, but not the full list.

I'm still sitting here exclaiming "wow!"

https://techcrunch.com/2026/03/07/grammarlys-expert-review-is-just-missing-the-actual-experts/

Grammarly’s ‘expert review’ is just missing the actual experts | TechCrunch

A recently-added feature in Grammarly purports to improve users’ writing with help from the world's great writers and thinkers — and some tech journalists, too.

TechCrunch
Show threadDagnabbit, Pascaline! 💥Mar 11

@draNgNon

It was crazy news, and now with
@evacide 's update it's even crazier. It would be so good to put this nonsense to an end. Grammarly has been getting worse and its snowballing.

@caseynewton @timnitGebru

Show threadjoncamfieldMar 11
@evacide honestly I’d have fun making a review bot for myself; but pretty sure some janky regex and js would be enough for most of it. But this is… copyright theft?
Show threadTonyMar 11
@evacide how is it possible that this is legal?
Show threadVal Packett 🧉Mar 11

@evacide "Impersonationly, ex-Grammarly"

…shit, various kinds of fraud are literally objectively the thing an LLM would perform the best at, because what fraud needs to succeed is plausibility itself

Show threadbkMar 11
@evacide
We’re all Dixie Flatline now…
Show threadLegit_SpaghettiMar 11
@knutson_brain @evacide Of note that the Dixie Flatline asked to be unplugged and erased after the run. Be hilarious if the first thing the first true Ai did after gaining sentience was to erase itself.
Show threadbkMar 11
@Legit_Spaghetti @evacide
That plot twist was not lost on this observer...
Show threadSteffie 🏳️‍⚧️ :rubber_pride-heart-600: : :triple-moon-transfem: Mar 11
@evacide
Somehow, this doesn't surprise me. Proponents of AI have long argued that we'll all be reduced to online AI avatars managed by the platforms they exist in.
Show threadTheStrangelet Mar 11
@evacide Fuuuuuuck this shit!
Show threadDrainMar 11
@evacide time for a cease and desist.
Show threadAI Slop CollectionMar 11

This should be illegal!

@evacide

Show threadMy camera shoots fascistsMar 11

@evacide

I am hoping that the reason you are not going on a long outraged rant about this is because your lawyers have told you it is better if you don't while they prepare their extinction level event case against Grammarly — which I hope makes you a very rich person and burns them to smoldering ash.

Show threadDave RahardjaMar 11

@evacide Is there some legal recourse available here? Seems pretty egregious to put your name on something you didn’t write, and they’re making money on it too!

Scumbags.

Show threadKim ScheinbergMar 11

@evacide
That's more eloquent than "kill your darlings"

So have you thought about how to spend the lawsuit money yet?

Show threadMurdoc Addams 🧛🏻 🇨🇦Mar 11
@evacide
I wonder if they'd like to try this new dish I whipped up, inspired by *real food!*
Show threadAriadne Conill 🐰Mar 11
@evacide oh hell naw, they better not be doing that to me
Show threadMelloMar 11
And there's nothing you could do?
Show threadSu_GMar 11
@evacide
How. Dare. They. #Grammarly