Michael Schumacher’s family has won €200,000 (£170,212) in compensation from the editors of a magazine that printed an AI-generated interview with the legendary racing driver last year.
F1 icon Schumacher, who won seven world championships, was involved in a skiing accident in December 2013 that left him in a medically induced coma. He has not appeared publicly since.
The German is being cared for by a medical team and his wife Corinna at their home in Lake Geneva, but little has been made public about his condition.
However, the German publication Die Aktuelle published an interview with Schumacher in April 2023, with a photo of him on the cover of the issue.
Die Aktuelle published the article under the title “Michael Schumacher, the first interview”, while a tagline also appeared saying “it sounded deceptively real”.
Michael Schumacher’s family has won €200,000 (£170,212) in compensation from magazine editors who printed an AI-generated interview with him.
German magazine Die Aktuelle claimed to have had an “exclusive interview” with Schumacher last year.
Schumacher (pictured in 2005) has not been in public since a skiing accident in 2013.
However, it turned out that Schumacher’s alleged quotes in the interview had been produced by AI.
The article was widely condemned at the time, and the editor of Die Aktuelle, owned by the Essen-based Funke media group, was fired two days later, while Funke also apologized to Schumacher’s family, who promised to take legal action.
And on Wednesday, a Schumacher family spokesperson confirmed the news of the subsequent €200,000 (£170,212) compensation ruling.
Given the secrecy surrounding Schumacher’s health status, knowing that many of the family’s closest friends and relatives are not even sure of his health status, they drew attention when Die Aktuelle published the “exclusive interview” on 15 April of last year.
The article began: ‘Talk to him once. Ask him how he is really doing. And she finally got answers almost 10 years after his tragic skiing accident.
There are no sparse, nebulous half-sentences from friends. But answers from him! By Michael Schumacher, 54 years old!
‘Here it is: the incredible interview! With redemptive answers to the most burning questions that the entire world has been asking for so long.’
The article, which did not include a byline, continued before ending with the admission that the quotes are, in fact, false and that they have not spoken to Schumacher or anyone in the family.
‘Did Michael Schumacher really say it all himself? The interview was online. On a page that has to do with artificial intelligence, or AI for short,” he concluded the widely ridiculed article.
F1 fans condemned the magazine for its “lack of decency” and “shame” in claiming to have spoken to Schumacher.
Schumacher’s wife Corinna (pictured together skiing in 2005) has kept his condition private.
Die Aktuelle was widely condemned for claiming to have spoken to Schumacher
Schumacher is one of the most successful F1 drivers of all time, having won the world title in 1994, 1995, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004. He also had 71 fastest laps and 155 podiums to his name during his iconic automobile race. .
But, with his current health battle, Schumacher’s family remains very protective of his privacy.
However, in the Netflix documentary ‘Schumacher’, which aired in 2021, his wife Corinna provided a rare update.
She revealed that he remains in rehabilitation for the injuries he suffered and stated that he is now “different, but here.”