Schumacher family sue magazine over AI-generated 'fake' interview

Legal battle ensues as family defend privacy and fight fabricated quotes

The magazine claimed to have the first interview with Michael Schumacher since he suffered a severe brain injury in a 2013 skiing accident. EPA

Seven-time Formula One champion Michael Schumacher's family plans to take legal action against German magazine Die Aktuelle for using artificial intelligence to generate fake quotes from him for use in a purported interview.

The magazine claimed to have the first interview with Schumacher since he suffered a severe brain injury in a 2013 skiing accident in the French Alps.

However, it later revealed the “interview” had been generated by AI.

The Schumacher family have guarded the 54-year-old's privacy since the accident and he has not been seen in public since.

Reports suggest Schumacher has memory, movement and speech problems, and is being cared for at home near Geneva.

“'Private is private', as he always said,” his wife Corinna Schumacher said in a 2021 Netflix documentary.

“Michael always protected us, and now we are protecting Michael.”

Schumacher holds the record for the most Formula One titles alongside Lewis Hamilton, with seven championships each.

He recorded 91 Grand Prix victories, second only to Hamilton's 103.

His son, Mick, 24, is a former Haas F1 driver and currently a reserve driver with Mercedes.

Die Aktuelle has previously been embroiled in controversy with the Schumacher family.

In 2014, the magazine posted a picture of Schumacher and his wife on the front cover, with the headline “Awake”, only for the piece in question to have been about people who have awoken from comas in the past.

Formula One's Schumacher retreated from public life following a skiing accident in the French Alps in 2013 and his family has remained protective of his privacy. EPA

The magazine also won a legal case against the Schumachers the next year after a front cover saying “a new love” had entered Ms Schumacher's life, only for the article to be about the couple's daughter, Gina.

In the 2021 Netflix documentary Schumacher, Ms Schumacher provided a rare glimpse into her husband's condition.

“Michael is here. Different, but he's here, and that gives us strength, I find” she said.

“We're together. 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.”