The ‘Die Aktuelle case’
In recent times, the great potential offered by artificial intelligence is also appearing in the world of journalism and it is not uncommon to find articles that try to analyze the pros and cons of software such as ChatGPT.
However, the German weekly magazine Die Aktuelle went further, publishing in the edition released last week, an “artificial interview” with Formula One and Scuderia Ferrari legend Michael Schumacher, created using the site character.ai, which allows you to simulate dialogues with famous characters, based on previous statements of the person.
However, what was done with Michael Schumacher crossed the limits of decency, given that “the first interview” after the 2013 accident was put on the cover and questions about his state of health were asked to the fake German champion. The matter was quickly pointed out by the readers, given that the title of the internal pages carried a fake statement by the seven-time Formula 1 world champion: “My life has completely changed”.
A way of doing journalism that has led to unanimous outrage, which has practically embraced the whole world and has been denounced by a large number of newspapers in the last few hours. Die Aktuelle pointed out that the words were the result of “an invention”, but certainly a few lines in front of such a cover and two internal pages are not enough to silence the controversy that has arisen.
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The reaction of the Schumacher family
One can only imagine the frustration of Michael Schumacher’s family in the face of the media rubbish they were faced with, the German newspaper even being a repeat offender after already publishing in 2014 a cover with a photo of the former Ferrari driver in sunglasses with the title : “He’s sitting in the sun!” and after having alluded in 2015 to a “new love for Corinna”, referring however to the love life of her daughter Gina-Maria.
From what was leaked by the ESPN colleagues who questioned a spokesman for the Schumachers, the family decided to sue Die Aktuelle: “We will take legal action.”
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