F1 legend Michael Schumacher’s family receives €200,000 after German Magazine’s AI Interview

Michael Schumacher has found vindication. The former racer's family received €2000,000 ($217,000) from a German magazine for publishing the German driver's AI interview. This was after his family took legal action against the publication.

Back in 2013, a year after he retired from Formula 1, Schumacher had a near-fatal accident while skiing with his then 14-year-old son, Mick Schumacher, in the French Alps. This resulted in a traumatic brain injury, due to which the seven-time world champion was put in a medically induced coma.

Since the accident, the Schumacher family has decided to keep the F1 legend behind closed doors. Neither his pictures nor his videos have gone public. Any official information, or account about Schumacher, is delivered by his immediate family and close friends.

In April 2023, however, a German magazine named Die Aktuelle seemingly published an interview with Michael Schumacher. Since the world was in the dark about how the F1 driver was, the article received massive traction. It was only at the end of the article, that revealed the entire conversation had been fabricated by AI.

As per ESPN, the story led the Schumacher family to take legal action against the publication in the Munich Labor Court. The F1 driver's family has received €200,000 compensation from the Funke media group, the parent company of Die Aktuelle magazine.

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Funke media director apologized to Michael Schumacher's family following his AI-generated interview

Soon after Michael Schumacher's AI article was published by Die Aktuelle, Funke Group apologized for the error on their part.

As per BBC, Funke's managing director, Bianca Pohlmann, commented that the misleading article should have never been released. She added that the company had terminated the contract of their veteran editor, Anne Hoffmann, who was in charge of the magazine since 2009.

"This tasteless and misleading article should never have appeared. It in no way meets the standards of journalism that we - and our readers - expect. 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," Pohlmann said.

Michael Schumacher, is considered as one of the legends of Formula One's sporting history. The German GOAT won 91 races and bagged seven world championships with Benetton and Ferrari. Though he was already a world champion when he arrived in Ferrari in 1996, his legacy and fame skyrocketed when he dominated the sport with the Italian giants.

Schumacher took a sabbatical from F1 in 2006 but remained with Ferrari as an advisor. He made an explosive return to the sport in 2010 with Mercedes but could not retain his position at the top of the grid. Schumacher eventually retired in 2012.