The editor of the magazine apologized to the family of the Formula 1 legend, after publishing the “interview” with Michael Schumacher generated by artificial intelligence.
Schumacher, a seven-time world champion, suffered serious head injuries in a skiing accident in December 2013 and has not been seen in public since.
Die Aktuelle magazine published a cover with the title “Michael Schumacher, first interview”. A slogan under a smiling photo of Schumacher “sounded deceptively real”, and the article revealed that the alleged quotes were produced by AI.
The article was produced with the help of an artificial intelligence program called charatcter.ai, which artificially generated Schumacher’s “quotes” about his health and family.
“I can, with the help of my team, stand up on my own and even walk slowly a few steps,” Schumacher’s “quotes” read.
“My wife and my children have been a blessing to me and without them I would not have succeeded. Of course they are also very sad, how everything happened. They support me and are firmly by my side”.
Schumacher’s family said on Friday they planned to take legal action against the magazine, and over the weekend its publisher issued an apology.
“This tasteless and misleading article should never have appeared. It in no way respects the standards of journalism that we – and our readers – expect”, said Bianca Pohlmann, general director of Funke media group.
“As a result of the publication of this article, there will be immediate consequences for the staff. The editor-in-chief of Die Aktuelle, Anne Hoffmann, who has held journalistic responsibility for this newspaper since 2009, will be released from her position as of today.”
Following the skiing accident, Schumacher was placed in an induced coma and brought home in September 2014, his medical condition being kept private by his family since then.
Schumacher, 54, won two of the Formula 1 drivers’ world titles with Benetton in 1994 and 1995, while for Ferrari he won five consecutive titles between 2000 and 2004.
The seven F1 titles are a record shared with Lewis Hamilton, while Schumacher took 91 race wins in his career, a record Hamilton surpassed in 2020.
The German initially retired from racing in 2006, but returned in 2010, before retiring again two years later.
Schumacher’s son Mick drove for Haas in F1 and is currently a reserve driver at Mercedes.
In a 2021 Netflix documentary, Schumacher’s wife Corinna said: “We live together at home. We do therapy. We’re doing everything we can to make Michael feel better and make sure he’s comfortable and just feels our family, our connection. We try to carry on as a family, the way Michael liked it and still likes it. And we continue our lives. “Private is private” – as he always said. It is very important to me that he can continue to enjoy his private life as much as possible. Michael has always protected us, and now we protect Michael.”
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