German magazine Die Aktuelle has apologised to the family of Michael Schumacher for its AI generated article and has sacked its editor.
After undertaking an Artificial Intelligence generated interview of Schumacher which they tried to present as world’s first of the German since his skiing incident, German magazine Die Aktuelle’s parent company FUNKE has now apologised for the same.
This comes after criticism galore where the magazine and the editor were termed insensitive to publish an interview which was in bad taste. It had Schumacher speaking about his children and his own health, which was written as he has recovered well.
It is not the first time that Die Aktuelle has been in news for the wrong reasons. It has some history with Schumacher and its editor Anne Hoffmann – who has been at the helm since 2009 – has been under-fire too for such type of journalism.
While apologising, FUNKE Media Group has fired Hoffmann from her editor role as they are likely to face a court case from the Schumacher family. “FUNKE apologizes to the Schumacher family for reporting on Michael Schumacher in the latest issue of ‘Die Aktuelle’,” said Bianca Pohlmann.
“This tasteless and misleading article should never have appeared. It in no way corresponds to the standards of journalism that we – and our readers – expect from a publisher like FUNKE. As a result of the publication of this article, personal consequences will be drawn immediately.
‘Die Aktuelle’ editor-in-chief Anne Hoffmann, who has been responsible for journalism for the newspaper since 2009, will be relieved of her duties as of today,” the statement from FUNKE head Pohlmann summed up.
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