Grammarly's CEO, Shishir Mehrotra, faced intense criticism during an interview on The Verge's Decoder podcast for his handling of the company's controversial 'expert review' feature. The tool, which was active for eight months, allowed Grammarly to mimic the writing styles of top authors and journalists without permission. During the interview, Mehrotra struggled to justify the feature's launch and subsequent shutdown, admitting it 'wasn't good' while simultaneously revealing his vision to replace human workers with AI chatbots that businesses could 'sell back' to clients.

His comments, including the assertion that he'd be 'worth more as a chatbot,' drew widespread condemnation from journalists and critics. The saga continues amid a class action lawsuit alleging misappropriation of writers' names and voices.