Autocorrect software was originally developed by Microsoft engineer Dean Hachamovitch in the 1990s as a helpful glossary feature to instantly fix common spelling mistakes in Word.

A closer look

Autocorrect software was originally developed by Microsoft engineer Dean Hachamovitch in the 1990s as a helpful glossary feature to instantly fix common spelling mistakes in Word. He realized that a massive percentage of users constantly mistyped the exact same words, like changing teh to the, and decided to let the software automatically intervene without asking permission. While it was a brilliant productivity hack for office workers, its transition to touchscreen smartphones birthed an era of unprecedented textual chaos. This underlying algorithm is the sole reason you have spent the last decade accidentally sending profoundly aggressive text messages to your mother about ducking. We built a sophisticated linguistic engine meant to effortlessly elevate our written communication, and instead it primarily functions to ruin sincere apologies with completely inappropriate botanical references