A fake interview with Michael Schumacher caused a scandal in Germany

The state of health of Michael Schumacher, the seven-time Formula 1 world champion who suffered serious brain damage after his skiing accident on December 29, 2013, in Méribel, has always been shrouded in deep secrecy maintained by those close to him. Under these conditions, the publication last weekend of the latest issue of the people magazine Die Aktuelle with, on its front page, a photo of the former pilot, now 54 years old, with the mention “his first interview”, n did not go unnoticed across the Rhine. “My life has completely changed”, can we read in the pages of the newspaper around questions like: “How are you since the accident which you suffered in 2013? or “How are you today?” »

In reality, the interview was carried out, not with the former pilot, but by… an artificial intelligence, as it is finally specified in small print, and on the basis of previous interviews with family or friends of Michael Schumacher , through the Character.ai program.

Such a process and this staging aroused the anger of many Germans. “The world would be a better place without Die Aktuelle,” tweeted Boris Rosenkranz, a German media expert.

The history and life of Schumacher still arouse as much interest. Last November, his old Ferrari driven in 2003 was sold at auction in Geneva for the record sum of 13 million Swiss francs (13.16 million euros).