The publisher of a German magazine that published an interview with retired Formula 1 driver Michael Schumacher, describing it as a “world sensation” but using answers written with artificial intelligence, has fired the magazine’s editor and apologized to Mr. Schumacher’s family.
Schumacher, 54, retired from public life after suffering brain damage in a skiing accident nearly a decade ago, and his family has been fiercely guarded against his privacy ever since. The front cover of the 15 April issue of the celebrity magazine Die Aktuelle promoted the interview with Mr Schumacher, who is German, as his first since the accident: “das erste interview”.
On the front cover were the words “It sounds deceptively real,” suggesting that the interview may not have been what it seemed.
The magazine featured quotes from Mr Schumacher about his family and health alongside pictures of him smiling and pictures of his children. The article explained that all quotes attributed to Mr Schumacher were generated by artificial intelligence.
Mr Schumacher’s family has been known to maintain privacy about his health since he hit his head on a rock while skiing in Méribel, a resort in the French Alps, in December 2013. Doctors at the time said his condition was serious and he was “fighting for his life”. Few details about his health have emerged since then.
Sabine Kehm, a spokeswoman for Mr Schumacher’s family, said in an email on Monday that the family planned to take legal action against Die Aktuelle.
Funke Media Group, publisher of Die Aktuelle, apologized to the family in a statement Friday, saying the magazine’s editor-in-chief, Anne Hoffmann, had been fired over the article. She has led the magazine since 2009, the statement said. Reports that Mr Schumacher’s family was planning legal action first appeared before Ms Hoffmann’s dismissal.
“This vulgar and misleading article should never have been published,” Funke Media Group general manager Bianca Pohlmann said in an emailed statement, adding that it did not meet the company’s journalistic standards “in any form than what we and our readers expect from a publisher like Funke.”
When Mr Schumacher retired in 2012, he was the most successful Formula 1 driver in history. He won the world championship a record seven times and won a record 91 Grand Prix races.
These achievements were matched only by Lewis Hamilton, the British driver who equaled Mr Schumacher’s record seven championships in 2020. That same year, Mr. Hamilton topped Mr. Schumacher’s Grand Prix record, winning a total of 103 races.
Mr Schumacher’s son Mick Schumacher is also a Formula 1 driver and serves as 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 made public. His family said in September 2014 that it moved him from a hospital to the family estate 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.”
“Different, but he’s here, and that gives us strength, I see,” she said.
“We are together, we live at home together,” Ms Schumacher said. “We’re doing therapy, we’re doing everything we can to make Michael better and make sure he’s comfortable, and just to make him feel like our family, our bond.”
