MICHAEL Schumacher’s family are reportedly considering legal action against a magazine after it ran an AI-generated “interview” with the Formula One legend.
The German publication Die Aktuelle portrayed the “interview” on its front page as the first-ever chat with the 54-year-old since he suffered a horror skiing accident almost a decade ago.
It promises not “half-sentences from friends” but “the incredible interview” with the F1 star including “redeeming answers to the most burning questions that the whole world has been asking for so long”.
But only at the end of the piece does it reveal that the article was actually generated by an AI chatbot.
The “world exclusive” sees the seven-time F1 champion Schumacher “open up” on his life since suffering a catastrophic brain injury during a family holiday in the French Alps in December 2013.
In the piece, which the magazine claims “sounded deceptively real,” Schuey is purported to say: “My life has changed completely since [the accident]. That was a horrible time for my wife, my children and the whole family.”
READ MORE ON MICHAEL SCHUMACHER
The article continues: “I was so badly injured that I lay for months in a kind of artificial coma because otherwise, my body couldn’t have dealt with it all.”
In the ghoulish piece, the AI chatbot even goes into the racer’s supposed recovery.
Asked how he feels today, the AI says: “Much better than years ago. With the help of my team, I can even stand on my own again and even walk a few steps slowly.
“My family and children have been a blessing to me and without them, I would not have been in business.
Most read in Motorsport
“Of course, they are very sad about how everything went, but unfortunately, that’s life and I just have to endure the fact that things sometimes go badly.
“They support me and stand fast at my side.”
Schumacher has not been seen in public since his accident, and his family have carefully guarded his privacy at his home in Switzerland.
Die Aktuelle shared the “interview” on its front cover featuring a picture of a smiling Schuey and the headline: “Michael Schumacher, the first interview.”
The tagline reads: “It sounded deceptively real.”
The interview with Schumacher is an exclusive nonsense
Boris Rosencrantz
At the end of the article, it is revealed that the quotes were all produced by an AI chatbot.
The piece has sparked a furious reaction from Schumacher’s family.
A family spokesperson confirmed to Reuters that they are taking legal action against the publication.
Many others have slammed the piece as distasteful and insensitive.
German blogger Boris Rosencrantz, who writes for news site Ubermedien, hit out at the Funke media group which owns Die Aktuelle.
He wrote: “The Funke media group actually wants the rubbish it dumps into the world to be understood as a journalistic product.
“Die Aktuelle delivers ‘exciting and, above all, serious reports about stars, VIPs and the nobility,’ writes the publisher.
“But how you type something like that on a website without it immediately seeing red is unclear.”
He went on: “There are ‘sentimental reports without sensationalism’ and ‘exclusive photos and interviews’ in the magazine, writes Funke media group.
“The latter is true insofar as photos in Die Aktuelle are sometimes exclusively manipulated and the interview with Schumacher is an exclusive nonsense.”
This is not the first time that Die Aktuelle has got into hot water with the Schumachers.
In 2014, the magazine posted a photo of Michael and his wife Corinna on his front cover with the headline “Awake”.
But the article was in fact about other people who have awoken from comas in the past.
The following year, the magazine ran a front cover saying that Corinna had a “new love”, only for the piece to actually be about the couple’s daughter, Gina.
Die Aktuelle later won a legal case against the Schumachers over the piece.
Read More on The Sun
Corinna told a 2021 Netflix documentary how important it was that her husband’s privacy was protected at all times.
“Private is private,” she said. “Michael always protected us, and now we are protecting Michael.”
Source: Motorsport - thesun.co.uk
