Grammarly Unveils AI-Powered Agents and New Interface in Major Overhaul

Grammarly gets a design overhaul, multiple AI features | TechCrunch

Grammarly now has a new document-based interface, built on the back of Coda, the productivity startup it acquired last year. The interface also sports an AI assistant, as well as a few AI tools meant for students and professionals, including an AI grader, proofreader and citation finder. The new interface adopts a block-first approach, letting you insert tables, columns, separators, lists and headers. You can also add rich text blocks to highlight information, add tips, or alerts. A sidebar hosts the AI assistant, which can summarize text, answer your questions, and provide writing suggestions. There's a bunch of AI tools, too: "Reader Reactions" lets you to pick a reader persona and get feedback on your writing based on that persona; "Grader" can provide feedback based on an instructor's guidelines and publicly-available course material; "Citation Finder," like it says on the tin, can help you find and generate citations from public materials; and "Paraphraser" can modify a text's tone according to your preferences. Grammarly's also added agents that can detect plagiarism or AI-generated content. Luke Behnke, VP of enterprise product at Grammarly, admitted to TechCrunch that agents made to detect AI-generated content can be hit or miss, but he claimed that the company has tuned its agent to be the most accurate in the market. "The goal here is not to provide an enforcement mechanism for teachers. If teachers want to enforce policies, they should use our authorship tool. But this [AI detector tool] is about providing a window to students into what could be AI-generated text in their writing before they submit," he told TechCrunch. Taken as a whole, Grammarly now has tools that can help students write using AI, and also detect AI-generated writing. So how is it striking a balance between those foci, which one could argue are at opposite ends of the spectrum? Well, the company says it has "a moral imperative" to teach students how to use AI and make them ready for the workforce. Like many other companies these days, Grammarly wants to build and integrate more AI agents in its products -- the company essentially said as much when it announced the acquisition of email client Superhuman last month. In May, Grammarly raised $1 billion from General Catalyst to make acquisitions and bolster its sales and marketing efforts.

Grammarly's new AI agents can detect AI text and find citations for you - automatically

Professional writers have long relied on literary agents to help with the publication and sale of their work. Now, students and professionals can use a new kind of agent to sharpen their writing skills -- and it will automatically kick into gear, no prompts needed. Also: This is the fastest local AI I've tried, and it's not even close - how to get it Grammarly users can access eight new AI agents. Each of which is designed to help them with different stages of the writing and editing processes, the company said Monday. The agents are being marketed to students at a time when AI is rapidly reshaping both educational norms and the job market. They're also being pushed to working professionals as AI tools become an increasingly common fixture in the workplace. Unlike traditional chatbots, which require careful prompting, Grammarly said its fleet of new agents can automatically take action based on the context in which they've been activated, "eliminating the guesswork of crafting the right prompts," Grammarly wrote in a press release. "Users remain in control of their work while receiving intelligent support tailored to their goals." The Citation Finder agent, for example, can be activated to scour the web for evidence to corroborate or refute a particular claim presented in a piece of writing and generate properly formatted citations. The Plagiarism Checker agent, meanwhile, compares users' work against a variety of databases to find similarities and verify whether the work is original. Also: I found 5 AI content detectors that can correctly identify AI text 100% of the time Grammarly has also launched an AI Detector agent, which "scans text to provide a score of whether the text was likely AI- or human-generated to support users in delivering their most authentic work." In other words, the purpose of this agent seems to be to help users who are using AI to write for them mask the fact that they're using AI to write for them. The task of trying to determine whether text is AI-generated is an imperfect science at best. From the supposed em dash dead giveaway to suspicions that loved ones are using ChatGPT to write heartfelt texts, it's a hotly debated topic, though ZDNET's internal testing shows AI content detectors overall are improving. In June, Grammarly launched a feature called Track Your Work, which records your writing activity in new Google and Word documents as proof that you wrote it. The other agents include a Reader Reactions agent, an AI Grader agent, an Expert Review agent, a Proofreader agent, and a Paraphraser agent. They're accessible now via Grammarly's free and Pro tiers, and will be rolled out later this year (along with more agents) in Grammarly Enterprise and Grammarly for Education. They can be found in Docs, Grammarly's new, AI-powered writing platform. Grammarly is positioning its fleet of agents as a team of expert AI collaborators that balance automation with education, handling rote busywork while simultaneously providing tips that can help human users become more capable and confident writers. Also: Can AI save teachers from a crushing workload? There's new evidence it might It's a delicate line to tow, especially in the case of students. Many educators today worry that the rise of easily accessible generative AI tools is dulling critical thinking skills among students, making it dangerously easy for them to entirely offload the work required by some assignments (essays, for example) onto these systems. The AI industry at large seems aware of that question, especially as the new school year begins; ChatGPT just released Study Mode, which aims to teach more than it automates, as does Anthropic's Learning Mode for its Claude chatbot and Claude Code platform. Grammarly said its new agents are designed to provide a responsible degree of assistance while also familiarizing students with some of the basics of AI, which can benefit them when they enter the job market. "Students today need AI that enhances their capabilities without undermining their learning," Jenny Maxwell, head of Grammarly for Education, said in a statement. "Grammarly's new agents fill this gap, acting as real partners that guide students to produce better work while ensuring they develop real skills that will serve them throughout their careers." Also: Claude can teach you how to code now, and more - how to try it Similarly, the agents are intended to empower working professionals without encroaching too far on their unique voice and agency. For example, the press release mentions the hypothetical example of a marketing director using the Reader Reactions agent to get a sense of how a draft of a product launch announcement will resonate with the company's sales team and with its CEO. "The agent predicts specific concerns each audience might have, suggests which points to emphasize for maximum impact, and flags potential misunderstandings before they happen," Grammarly wrote. Founded in 2009, Grammarly has long leveraged AI to offer writing and editing tips within its platform. But with Monday's launch, Grammarly is kicking off an effort to reposition itself as a platform centered around AI agents, which have become a focal point for developers looking to profit from generative AI. It's also become a key area of investment for leaders looking to boost productivity -- and signal to customers that they're on top of the latest and hottest tech trends. Also: A whopping 30% of business leaders are comfortable taking orders from AI agents - are you? "The launch of our new agents and AI writing surface marks a turning point in how we build products that anticipate user needs," Luke Behnke, Grammarly's VP of product management, said in a statement. "We're moving beyond simple suggestions to intelligent agents that understand context and actively help users achieve their communication goals."

Grammarly leans into writing assistance agents for students and professionals - SiliconANGLE

Grammarly leans into writing assistance agents for students and professionals Grammarly Inc., the startup best known for its artificial intelligence-powered proofreading and writing productivity software, today announced the launch of nine specialized AI agents designed to assist with writing tasks. The new agents are available within Docs, Grammarly's AI-native writing surface that embeds intelligent assistance directly into the writing process. The lineup includes agents that surface insights, provide targeted feedback, locate citations, offer subject-matter expertise, proofread like a personal writing partner, and check for plagiarism. "We think there's still a gap today in the way people and AI are working together to get things done," Luke Behnke, Grammarly's vice president of product management, told SiliconANGLE in an interview. "We felt it was important to break these up into what we're calling agents -- who show up at the right time, in the right context, and bring help to people in the moment." Specific agents include an AI detector that can provide a score of whether the text is likely AI- or human-generated. Although it's well-known across the industry that these tools are often unreliable and not foolproof, the company suggested that the tool could be used to make writing content more authentic. Another is a paraphraser agent that adapts writing to a desired tone, audience and style. Users can choose to sound more academic, professional or creative, and can even set a custom voice. The reader reactions agent predicts how a target audience might interpret a text, whether it's a manager, a client or a professor, and suggests adjustments to avoid confusion. A citation finder agent automatically searches for credible sources, formats citations and checks academic compliance, saving students hours of manual work. For students, an AI-grader agent accepts uploaded grading rubrics, then evaluates work against instructor expectations. "You can drag and drop your rubric into the AI grader agent and it will actually create feedback for you, even pulling information about that professor or class from the university," added Behnke. Although much of today's announcement focuses on students, Behnke said organizations and professionals have also benefited from the agentic AI push as well. "The most interesting thing we've seen is professionals adopting our tone of voice agent... pasting in their own writing so we can build their voice for them," he said. Combined with Grammarly's existing proofreading tools, these new agents aim to give writers a higher level of discourse, helping them refine work from multiple angles. The company is also rolling out an integrated AI chat assistant for brainstorming, summarizing, and making suggestions, similar to other AI chatbots, but embedded in the writing process. This lean-in to AI agents and the new AI-enabled writing surface are part of the company's first phase of a "redesigned Grammarly" built on agentic AI that will help transform how students and professionals approach writing and productivity. "We are in the midst of a transformation, one that will likely require us to change the name of the parent company," Behnke said. "We don't see Grammarly going anywhere as a product." Late last year Grammarly acquired the AI productivity platform Coda Project Inc. and earlier this year the company acquired the popular AI-powered productivity email app Superhuman. These acquisitions, in addition to the lean into AI agents has signaled a shift for Grammarly away from a simple proofreading platform towards a broader productivity suite.