German publisher apologizes for fake Michael Schumacher AI interview

“This tasteless and misleading article should never have been published,” Funk magazine managing director Bianca Pohlman said Saturday. It doesn’t quite live up to the standards of journalism you’d expect from it.

Pohlmann said Funke would fire the editor-in-chief of Die Actuel magazine, where the so-called interview was published, and the group apologized to Schumacher’s family.

Sabine Kehm, a spokesperson for the family, told The Associated Press in an email on Thursday that it plans to take legal action against “fake artificial intelligence interviews by German outlet Die Aktuelle.” .

The magazine ran a photo of the 54-year-old Schumacher on its front page last weekend with the words “Michael Schumacher, first interview!” The magazine also wrote that it “seemingly sounds real”, with quotes attributed to Schumacher generated by AI. Die Aktuelle is one of Germany’s many tabloid celebrity magazines.

Schumacher was skiing in Meribel in the French Alps when he fell in December 2013 and suffered a fatal brain injury. His head hit a rock and his helmet ripped off. Doctors removed blood clots, but others remained untouched because they were embedded deep in his brain.

Since being transferred from hospital in September 2014, the seven-time F1 champion continues to be cared for personally in his family’s home in Switzerland.

Schumacher retired from Formula 1 in 2012 after three seasons with Mercedes and was joined by Lewis Hamilton, who equaled Schumacher’s F1 title record.