Die Aktuelle editor fired after AI-generated ‘interview’ with Michael Schumacher 

German magazine Die Aktuelle, owned by the Funke media group, published a fake AI-generated ‘interview’ with Michael Schumacher, causing unrest and firing of the editor-in-chief.

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German magazine Die Aktuelle, owned by the Funke media group, published on 15 April an AI-generated ‘interview’ with Michael Schumacher. The magazine’s front cover claimed to offer ‘the first interview’ with a Formula One driver featuring a photo of him smiling. The interview text, however, turned out to be AI-generated conversations and quotes. The mixed feelings around the deceptively real ‘interview’ caused the editor-in-chief to be fired after being on the job since 2009.  

Michael Schumacher and his family have been leading a strictly private life without interviews since his skiing accident in 2013. The family is said to be planning legal action against the magazine.