Grammarly Ends Unauthorized AI Cloning of Experts
▼ Summary
– Superhuman launched an AI agent called Expert Review that used third-party LLMs to provide writing suggestions based on public works of experts.
– The company received and acknowledged critical feedback that the agent misrepresented the voices of those experts.
– As a result, Superhuman has disabled the Expert Review feature to reimagine it with better user utility and expert control over representation.
– The company’s broader mission is to integrate AI into workplaces, aiming to expand its platform to allow anyone to build similar, helpful agents.
– Superhuman envisions a future where experts can choose to participate, control their representation, and build direct relationships with users through such tools.
Grammarly has discontinued a feature that used artificial intelligence to mimic the writing styles of public figures without their explicit consent. The company’s CEO, Shishir Mehrotra, announced the decision to disable the “Expert Review” agent after receiving criticism from the experts it was designed to emulate. The tool, launched in August, analyzed publicly available information from large language models to offer users writing suggestions inspired by the published work of various thought leaders.
Mehrotra acknowledged the company had fallen short of its goal, which was to help users discover relevant perspectives and provide experts a way to connect with their audience. He offered an apology and stated the feature would be reimagined. The new approach will prioritize giving experts genuine control over their representation, including the option to not participate at all.
The company’s broader mission focuses on integrating AI directly into everyday work environments. Grammarly views its platform as a foundational tool for this integration, acting as a constant writing assistant across applications. The vision is to expand from a single AI assistant to a full team of specialized agents. This could allow a professor to refine an essay, a sales director to polish a pitch, or a noted expert to strengthen a proposal, all through the Grammarly interface.
For experts, this proposed ecosystem represents a significant opportunity. It would allow them to build a widespread presence with users, similar to Grammarly’s own relationship with its customers. Crucially, in this envisioned future, participation would be opt-in. Experts would have the power to shape how their knowledge is presented and would retain control over their associated business models. Mehrotra expressed excitement about this potential future and invited experts to collaborate in its development.
(Source: The Verge)
