The editor of the German magazine Die Aktuellewho published a fake interview with Michael Schumacher made with an artificial intelligence, was sacked, the Funke media group announced on Saturday.
“This distasteful and misleading article should never have appeared. It does not in any way correspond to the standards of journalism that we – and our readers – expect from a group like Funke”, laments in a press release Bianca Pohlmann, director of magazines for the Funke group.
The group’s apologies to the pilot’s family
“The editor-in-chief of Die Aktuelle, Anne Hoffmann, who has assumed the journalistic responsibility for the magazine since 2009, is relieved of her duties as of” this Saturday, she adds, presenting her “apologies” to the family of the legendary German Formula 1 driver.
The magazine boasted to have obtained an interview with Michael Schumacher, the first since his skiing accident and his serious head trauma at the end of 2013 in the French Alps. On Wednesday, the magazine, which specializes in celebrity news, published the interview and revealed that it had been generated by an artificial intelligence.
The article included quotes attributed to Schumacher and referring to his family life since the accident, as well as his state of health. After this publication, the family of the ex-champion had announced its intention to file a complaint.
The family of Michaël Schumacher, now 54, scrupulously protects the privacy of the former champion who has not been seen in public since his accident. Almost no information has filtered since about his state of health.