Grammarly Shuts Down AI Expert Review Feature After Lawsuit, Backlash

Quick Facts

• Grammarly disabled its Expert Review AI feature on March 11, 2026, after backlash from experts whose identities were used without permission
• Investigative journalist Julia Angwin filed a class-action lawsuit seeking over $5 million in damages for unauthorized commercial use of her expertise
• The feature allowed Grammarly’s 40 million users to receive AI-generated advice presented as if it came directly from real professionals and authors

Grammarly shut down its Expert Review AI feature Wednesday after facing a class-action lawsuit and widespread criticism from the experts whose identities the tool used without permission.

The writing assistant company disabled the feature on March 11, 2026, following what CEO Rahul Roy-Chowdhury called “valid critical feedback from experts who are concerned that the agent misrepresented their voices.”

Julia Angwin, the award-winning investigative journalist who founded The Markup, filed the lawsuit arguing that Grammarly was “selling an imposter version of my hard-earned expertise.” The suit seeks damages exceeding $5 million and cites New York law prohibiting companies from using a person’s name for commercial purposes without consent.

Grammarly launched Expert Review last summer as part of its expansion into AI productivity agents. The feature, available to Pro subscribers paying $12 monthly, allowed users to select from a roster of “leading professionals, authors, and subject-matter experts.” The AI then generated advice presented as if it came directly from those individuals.

The controversy intensified when users discovered the system referenced real people, including deceased scholars. Professor David Abulafia, who died on January 24, 2026, continued to appear as an available expert even after his death. The feature had been running since August 2025.

“You rapacious information and identity thieves better get ready for me to go full McConaughey on you,” tech journalist Kara Swisher told reporters. Casey Newton, another prominent tech journalist, wrote: “I’ve long assumed that before too long, AI might take my job. I just assumed that someone would tell me when it happened.”

The backlash extends beyond individual complaints. Even when users submitted lorem ipsum placeholder text, the tool suggested writing tips attributed to authors like Stephen King.

Grammarly faces increased competition from ChatGPT, Claude, and other AI writing tools. The company, which serves 40 million users across 500,000 organizations, recently announced plans to acquire productivity platform Coda and rebrand as Superhuman.

“As we innovate at the edge of AI, it is important to us that we continue to seek the best ways to help people feel agency over technology,” Roy-Chowdhury wrote in the company’s response.

If Angwin prevails in court, the case could establish new precedents for how AI companies use human expertise and identity in commercial products. The lawsuit represents growing tensions across the AI industry over consent, attribution, and the ethical boundaries of using human creativity for AI development.

Read more: Grammarly shuts down ‘Expert Review’ after pushback from the real experts