The family of Michael Schumacher has received a compensation payment of 200,000 euros more than a year after a magazine printed a fake interview with the Formula One legend using artificial intelligence. Schumacher appeared on the front cover of German publication Die Aktuelle in April 2023 under the headline, “Michael Schumacher, the first interview”. The publishers left a small hint on the front page that it wasn’t real, with a strap saying the interview “sounded deceptively real”.
But the article appeared to say otherwise. “I can, with the help of my team, actually stand by myself and even slowly walk a few steps,” the fake Schumacher quotes read. “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. “They support me and are standing firmly at my side.