A German writer has sacked considered one of its journal’s editors and apologized to the household of Michael Schumacher for publishing a pretend interview with the Method One nice that was generated by synthetic intelligence.

Tabloid journal Die Aktuelle ran a entrance cowl unfold promising an unique interview with Schumacher, who has not been seen in public since struggling a critical mind damage in a 2013 snowboarding accident. Solely after the ‘interview’ it’s revealed within the journal that the article was generated by an AI chatbot.

Funke magazines managing director Bianca Pohlmann stated on Saturday: “This tasteless and deceptive article ought to by no means have appeared. It doesn’t in any approach correspond to the requirements of journalism that we — and our readers — count on from a writer like Funke.”

Pohlmann stated Funke was firing the chief editor of Die Aktuelle journal, the place the so-called interview appeared, and the group apologized to Schumacher’s household.

A Schumacher household spokesperson confirmed to ESPN on Wednesday that authorized motion can be taken.

The journal printed a photograph of the 54-year-old Schumacher on its entrance web page together with the phrases: “Michael Schumacher, the primary interview!”

The journal additionally wrote “it sounds deceptively actual” with the supposed quotes attributed to Schumacher generated by AI. Die Aktuelle is considered one of many tabloid movie star magazines in Germany.

Schumacher retired from F1 in 2012 after three seasons with Mercedes and was changed on the crew by Lewis Hamilton, who has matched Schumacher’s F1 titles report.