The publishers of a German magazine that ran an ‘interview’ with Michael Schumacher generated by artificial intelligence have sacked the editor and apologised to the Formula One great’s family.
Seven-times world champion Schumacher, now 54, has not been seen in public since he suffered a serious brain injury in a skiing accident on a family holiday in the French Alps in December 2013.
His family said this week that they were planning legal action against weekly magazine Die Aktuelle, owned by the Essen-based Funke media group.
Funke apologised in a statement on their website www.funkemedien.de.
“This tasteless and misleading article should never have appeared. It in no way meets the standards of journalism that we – and our readers – expect from a publisher like Funke,” said Funke magazines managing director Bianca Pohlmann.
“As a result of the publication of this article, immediate personnel consequences will be drawn.
“Die Aktuelle editor-in-chief Anne Hoffmann, who has held journalistic responsibility for the paper since 2009, will be relieved of her duties as of today.”
The latest edition of Die Aktuelle ran a front cover with a picture of a smiling Schumacher and the headline promising ‘Michael Schumacher, the first interview’.
The strapline added: “it sounded deceptively real”.
Inside, it emerged that the ‘quotes’ had been produced by AI.