--- title: "Tabloid Fires Editor for AI-Generated “Interview” With Injured Celebrity" description: "Pro-tip for editors: do not, under any circumstance, publish an AI-generated \"interview\" with someone you didn't actually interview." date: "2023-04-24" modified: "2023-04-24" authors: - name: "Noor Al-Sibai" job_title: "Senior Staff Writer" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/nooralsibai" url: "https://futurism.com/the-byte/tabloid-fires-editor-ai-interview" categories: - "Artificial Intelligence" tags: - "artificial intelligence" - "formula one" - "journalism" - "the digest" --- # Tabloid Fires Editor for AI-Generated “Interview” With Injured Celebrity ![Pro-tip for editors: do not, under any circumstance, publish an AI-generated "interview" with someone you didn't actually interview.]() *\Image: Getty / Futurism\* ## Relieved of Duties Here's a pro tip for editors: do not, under any circumstance, publish an artificial intelligence-generated "interview" with someone you didn't actually interview, especially if they have suffered a life-altering injury. Anne Hoffmann, the longtime editor of the German-language tabloid *Die Aktuelle*, is learning this lesson the hard way. She has been "relieved of duties," [per the magazine's publisher](), for [publishing an AI-generated interview]() with Formula 1 champion Michael Schumacher, who suffered a brain injury from a skiing accident in 2013 and hasn't made a public appearance since then. In the statement, the publisher said that it "apologizes to the Schumacher family" after the star's representatives said that they [plan to press charges]() against the tabloid for publishing the interview last week. "This tasteless and misleading article should never have appeared," Bianca Pohlmann, FUNKE's managing director, said in a translation of the statement. "It in no way corresponds to the standards of journalism that we — and our readers — expect from a publisher like FUNKE." ## Phony Interview The "interview" in question appeared [under a cover story]() claiming to be "the first interview" with the F1 legend since his accident, and featured a made-up quote attributed to Schumacher about how his "life has changed completely." While the piece did mention that it was generated by an AI and did not feature any actual quotes from the ex-racer himself, it didn't do so until the very end of the piece. As [*ESPN* reports](), this was not the first time the Schumacher family has had to deal with *Die Aktuelle*'s mistakes. Just a year after the racing star's skiing accident, the magazine featured a photo of Schumacher and his wife Corinna on its front cover, alongside a misleading headline that said "Awake." The article in question was about the possibility of someone "waking up" from a coma, but if someone just saw the headline and image, they would have thought Schumacher had actually recovered fully. While this debacle will hopefully serve as a cautionary tale, it seems that this kind of thing will, unfortunately, become all the more common as AI continues to be rapidly integrated into society. **More on AI grossness:** [*Fury as Magazine Uses AI to Generate Fake Interview With Michael Schumacher*]() ## Author At Futurism, I've often been drawn to unpacking the narratives that underlie technological, scientific and medical progress, with a special interest in areas of conflict and ambiguity that end up setting agendas and steering the fates of both elites and the hoi polloi. I'm a committed generalist, but I often find myself returning to work involving NASA and the private space sector, the effects of AI on media and society, and the mechanics of the pharmaceutical industry, with a specific focus on the spread of GLP-1 drugs like Ozempic and Wegovy. Prior to Futurism, I worked for publications ranging from Media Matters and Truthdig to Raw Story and Bustle. I'm also the author of "Myspace Scene Queens," a 2024 title in Instar Books' acclaimed "Remember the Internet" series. My work at Futurism has been cited by outlets including the New Yorker, Slate, Nieman Lab, the Verge, the MIT Technology Review, the Sunday Times, and the Daily Beast. I grew up in North Carolina, attended the University of North Carolina at Asheville, and now live in Brooklyn, New York. In my free time, I'm an avid reader and music fan; you can probably find me at a local poetry reading, concert, underground rave, or DJ set. I'm the proud parent of an ineffable orange cat named Mee-Mow. ### Author social links [Bluesky]()