Ann Hoffmann, editor-in-chief of the German magazine Die Aktuelle, has been fired for publishing a fake interview with racing driver Michael Schumacher, which was generated by artificial intelligence. This is reported by the press service of the publishing house Funke Mediengruppe:
“This tasteless and misleading article should never have appeared. This is in no way up to the standards of journalism that we and our readers expect from a publisher like Funke.
The interview was published in Die Aktuelle this week. Schumacher has not appeared in public since 2013 after a severe head injury and it was emphasized that this is an exclusive interview. In fact, the text consisted of fake quotes. The article was devoted to the family life of the former racer after the accident and his health.
The magazine noted at the same time that the source of the article was a site "related to artificial intelligence." But only towards the end of the text it became clear that it was completely generated by a neural network. The Schumacher family is going to sue the magazine.
