A farce that caused a huge outrage. The German magazine Die Aktuelle, which appeared on newsstands this week, announced in the headline and with a photo of the former driver an exclusive interview with Michael Schumacher, who, as is well known, suffered a serious skiing accident in 2013 and has since been very little or nothing is known about his actual state of health. But in reality the content was different.
“No half sentences and speculations from friends. Answers from you. By Michael Schumacher. Here is the most awaited incredible interview! With answers to questions that everyone has been asking for a long time,” read the front page of Die Aktuelle
The problem is that the Schumacher interview clearly doesn’t exist. Or rather, reactions from the seven-time F1 champion were actually published, but answered by an artificial intelligence programcharacter.ai, who took care of answering the questions as if Schumacher did.
Inside, on the pages devoted to the fanciful interview, it was then explained that after all, no questions were asked of the German pilot … but only at the end of the text. “Did Michael Schumacher really say this? This is an interview done over the internet using an artificial intelligence program,” could be read.
The questions were like “how have you been feeling since your skiing accident in 2013” or “how are you doing right now”. The answers the AI program gave were superficial, like “my life has completely changed”.
The bad taste joke of the German magazine caused a huge wave of outrage and generated thousands of comments on social networks. “Farce”, “world scandal”, “shame”, “I hope they get a good trial”, are some of the comments that made the front page of Die Aktuelle.
It is not the first time that this same sensational magazine has engaged in these misleading practices regarding the private life of Michael Schumacher. In 2014, they published some photos in a report allegedly sunbathing with Schumacher, reporting that the former driver was already out on the street and able to lead a fairly normal life. That photo was in fact from 2012, which is almost a year before the fateful accident he suffered in December 2013.
Schumacher suffered a serious skiing accident at the Maribel resort in France on December 29, 2013. Your state of health is one of the best kept secrets. Little is known about the actual consequences of the German pilot, who hit his head on a rock while skiing and suffered severe head trauma that left him in a coma.
The family has always asked for the utmost privacy and has filed lawsuits against some media outlets that published false reports about the former pilot. One of the woman’s few public statements was in a Netflix documentary about the life of the German pilot.
“Of course I miss Michael every day, but it’s not just me. The kids, the family, his father, everyone who was close to him. We all miss him, but Michael is here. In a different way, but it’s here and that’s how we find the strength to keep going,” Corinna said in the documentary.
In 2020, also in a documentary, the doctor Erich Riederer, although he had not seen him or even had direct contact with his relatives and the doctors who treat him daily, gave his opinion on the pilot’s health condition. “He’s in a vegetative state. He’s breathing, his heart is beating, maybe he can sit up or take a few steps with help, but no more than that. Is there a chance it’s the same as before the accident? I don’t think so,” he said in the documentary “Michael Schumacher: In Search of the Truth”.
In response, the family’s spokesperson, Sabine Kehm, denied the information in statements issued by Bild newspaper. “I can only say again that there are encouraging signs,” emphasized the pilot’s representative seven-time Formula 1 world champion. Kehm also refuted that the pilot’s wife had ordered the construction of a medical equipment room at his country home in Switzerland, adding that these reports are “absolutely false”.
Source: DN
