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The publisher of a German magazine that ran what it described as a “world sensation” interview with retired Formula 1 driver Michael Schumacher, but used responses written by artificial intelligence, has fired the magazine’s editor and apologized to Mr Schumacher’s family.
Mr Schumacher, 54, withdrew from public life after suffering a brain injury in a skiing accident nearly a decade ago, and his family have maintained a tightrope walk ever since. The front cover of the celebrity magazine Die Aktuelle on April 15 promoted an interview with Mr. Schumacher, who is German, for the first time since the accident: “interview das erste.”
The front cover includes the words “Real voice”, which suggests that the interview is not what it seems.
The magazine featured quotes from Mr. Schumacher about his family and health alongside photos of him smiling and photos of his children. The article explains that all the quotes attributed to Mr. Schumacher have been generated by artificial intelligence.
Mr Schumacher’s family has been known to keep his health private since he hit his head on a rock while skiing in Méribel, a resort in the French Alps, in December 2013. Doctors said his condition was serious and he was “fighting for life.” Few details about his health have emerged since then.
Sabine Kehm, spokeswoman for Mr. Schumacher’s family, said in an email on Friday that the family is planning to take legal action against Die Aktuelle.
Funke Media Group, which publishes Die Aktuelle, apologized to the family in a statement on Friday and said the magazine’s editor-in-chief, Anne Hoffmann, had been fired over the article. He has been running the magazine since 2009, the statement said. Reports that Mr. Schumacher’s family planned to take legal action first emerged before Ms. Hoffmann’s release.
“This vulgar and misleading article should never have been published,” Funke Media Group managing director Bianca Pohlmann said in an emailed statement, adding that it did not meet the company’s journalistic standards “in any shape or form as desired by the readers.” from publishers like Funke.
When Mr Schumacher retired in 2012, he was the most successful Formula 1 driver in history. He won a record seven world championships and won a record 91 Grand Prix races.
This achievement can only be matched by Lewis Hamilton, the British driver who equaled Mr. Schumacher’s record of seven championships in 2020. In the same year, Mr. Hamilton surpassed Mr. Schumacher’s Grand Prix record, and he has won a total of 103 races.
Mr Schumacher’s son Mick Schumacher, also a Formula 1 driver, became a reserve driver for Mr Hamilton’s Mercedes team after two seasons with the Haas team.
Little information about Michael Schumacher’s life after the skiing accident has been revealed. His family said in September 2014 that he had moved from the hospital to the family home in Gland, Switzerland, on the shores of Lake Geneva.
His wife, Corinna Schumacher, said in the 2021 documentary “Schumacher” that “everyone misses Michael, but Michael is here.”
“It’s different, but he’s here, and it’s empowering, I find,” he said.
“We are together, we live together at home,” Ms. Schumacher said. “We do therapy, we do everything we can to make Michael better and make sure he’s comfortable, and just make him feel like family, our bond.”
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