Motor racing-Schumacher family planning legal action over AI 'interview'

Reuters

Published Apr 20, 2023 02:57AM ET

Updated Apr 20, 2023 05:36AM ET

(Reuters) - Michael Schumacher's family are planning legal action against a German weekly magazine over an 'interview' with the seven times Formula One champion that was generated by artificial intelligence.

A spokesperson for the Schumacher family, asked by Reuters for a comment on Wednesday, pointed to published reports of legal action.

The Ferrari (NYSE:RACE) great has not been seen in public since he suffered a serious brain injury in a skiing accident on a family holiday in the French Alps in December 2013.

The family has guarded his privacy since, with access limited to those closest to him and little information given about his condition.

The latest edition of Die Aktuelle ran a front cover with a picture of a smiling Schumacher and the headline promising 'Michael Schumacher, the first interview'.

The strapline added: "it sounded deceptively real".

Inside, it emerged that the supposed quotes had been produced by AI.

"We live together at home. We do therapy. We do everything we can to make Michael better and to make sure he's comfortable, and to simply make him feel our family, our bond," Corinna Schumacher said in a 2021 Netflix (NASDAQ:NFLX) documentary.

"We're trying to carry on as a family, the way Michael liked it and still does. And we are getting on with our lives.