The family of seven-time Formula One world champion Michael Schumacher is planning to take legal action against the German magazine Die Aktuelle, which ran an AI-generated interview with the F1 legend. The Schumacher family's intentions were confirmed to ESPN by a family spokesperson.
Die Aktuelle had run a front cover promising an interview with Schumacher, claiming that it would be his first since suffering a serious brain injury in a 2013 skiing accident. However, the magazine revealed after the "interview" that the entire thing was generated via an AI chatbot.
The Schumacher family has been incredibly secretive about Michael's condition over the past decade, and they have also had previous issues with Die Aktuelle, which they feel has carried misleading content concerning the Schumacher family in the past.
In 2014, the magazine ran a front cover featuring Michael, his wife Corrina and the title "Awake" -- Schumacher had been placed in a medically-induced coma following his skiing accident -- but the piece only concerned notable people who had awoken from comas in the past. Another front cover then claimed that a "new love" had entered Corrina's life, only for the story to be about Schumacher's daughter Gina. A legal case ensued and was subsequently won by Die Aktuelle.
What few updates have emerged on Schumacher's condition have suggested that the seven-time world champion has had problems with speech, memory and movement. One of the last firm updates on Schumacher came from former Ferrari manager Jean Todt, who shared in 2022 that he and his former driver watch F1 races together.
Schumacher's seven world championships remain the most in F1 history (tied with Lewis Hamilton), and his 91 Grand Prix wins remain second all-time behind Hamilton's 103.
