Following a threat of legal action, the editor-in-chief of a German magazine that ran an artificial intelligence-generated “interview” with Michael Schumacher has been fired. The group that owns the magazine has apologized for the piece.
The article was run by Die Aktuelle, a German magazine that focuses on celebrity gossip and entertainment, in its April 15 edition. Although the magazine did explicitly say that the article was AI-generated, that information was only made clear at the end of the article.
Die Aktuelle, which is owned by the Funke Media Group, also called the article the first interview with Schumacher since he suffered a brain injury on a skiing trip in the French Alps. It featured artificial quotations from Schumacher on the subjects of his health and his family.
More: Michael Schumacher’s Family Takes Legal Action Over Fake AI-Generated Interview In Magazine
A few days later, the Schumacher family confirmed that it was planning to take legal action against the magazine for the publication of the piece. In a statement posted Friday, April 21, Funke Media announced that it was parting ways with Anne Hoffman, Die Aktuelle’s editor-in-chief.
“This tasteless and misleading article should never have appeared.” said Bianca Pohlmann, Funke Media’s managing director, in a statement. “It in no way corresponds to the standards of journalism that we – and our readers – expect from a publisher like FUNKE.”
In the statement, the company made it clear that the decision was a “consequence” of Hoffman’s choice to run the AI interview. It also apologized to the Schumacher family, which has protected Michael’s privacy fiercely since his accident.
Hoffman has been in charge of Die Aktuelle since 2009, and in that time the magazine has been involved in more than one controversy related to the family of the seven-time Formula 1 world champion. In 2015, it won a court battle with the Schumacher family after running a headline about the love life of Corinna Schumacher, Michael’s wife.