Controversy with Michael Schumacher: a German media announced an interview but it was done with artificial intelligence

Michael Schumacher he suffered an accident in December 2013 while skiing in the French Alps and, almost 10 years later, his state of health is unknown. His wife Corinna and his children mick AND gina mariaThey are in charge of keeping this mystery a secret.

Jean Todtformer president of International Automobile Federation (FIA), has a very close relationship with the family of the seven-time world champion and is one of the few people authorized to visit him. “They’ll try to get him to have a more normal life again,” she commented a couple of years ago, but little else.

Despite the secrecy and privacy the Formula 1 legend’s family seeks to protect, there are many media outlets who insist they want to know what is happening to Michael. For this reason, the announcement of the first interview with Schumi caused a huge stir in Germany. A backlash that, when the truth behind the “journalistic” proposal became known, turned into criticism, indignation and debate.

So did the German magazine “Die Aktuelle”, which presented on the cover an alleged interview with Schumacher almost ten years after the snow accident.

“No scattered and nebulous half sentences from friends. Your answers! By Michael Schumacher! Here it is: the fantastic interview! With redemption answers to the most burning questions that everyone has been asking for a long time”, was the proposal of the magazine on the cover.

Only within the newspaper it was discovered that they had used an artificial intelligence program called “character.ai”, which allows you to build an interview by simulating the answers of famous people.

“How are you since the accident you suffered in 2013?” or “How are you today?” are some of the questions that the magazine asks in the text, even asking the alleged interviewee if he is following the career of his son Mike.

“My life has completely changed”, highlights this publication on its double page, in quotation marks, as if the phrase had been uttered by Michael Schumacher.

More “textual” than Schumacher’s AI version? “It was a horrible time for my wife, my children and the whole family”; “I was injured so badly that I was in a kind of artificial coma for months because otherwise my body wouldn’t be able to cope with everything” and “I had a difficult time, but the hospital team she managed to bring me back to my family.” Regrettable.

In 2014 the same magazine used an old photo of the Kaiser with the caption: “How lucky! He sits in the sun.” This image has been repudiated in the networks, because many fans believed the pilot was recovering, when in fact it was the other way around. Even on the page where the picture is located, the magazine wrote that Michael needs a wheelchair to get around.

The alleged interview with Schumacher adds to the debates around the Artificial intelligencethis time focused on the world of sport.