German Magazine Editor Fired After Fake Michael Schumacher AI Interview
A German magazine editor was sacked after running an artificial intelligence-generated interview with former Formula One racer Michael Schumacher, Reuters reports(Opens in a new window).
Die Aktuelle’s parent company Funke also apologized to Schumacher’s family for the fake interview. The family had said earlier this week that they were planning legal action against the magazine because of it.
The celebrated racer has not been seen in public nor done any media interviews since he had a traumatic brain injury in a December 2013 skiing accident during a family holiday in the French Alps.
The controversy stems from the cover of the latest edition of the women’s weekly magazine. Die Aktuelle ran a headline promising the first interview with Schumacher since his accident. The article then revealed the quotes attributed to Schumacher had been produced by AI.
The quotes included(Opens in a new window) lines like: “I can with the help of my team actually stand by myself and even slowly walk a few steps. My wife and my children were a blessing to me and without them I would not have managed it. Naturally they are also very sad, how it has all happened.”
In a public apology on Funke’s website(Opens in a new window), the media company’s managing director Bianca Pohlmann said: “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.”
Pohlmann further said: “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.”
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