Fake interview with the legend of Formula 1, Schumacher's family will sue the German magazine

Michael Schumacher's family are planning legal action against a magazine which published an AI-generated 'interview' with the former Formula 1 driver.

The seven-time F1 champion suffered serious head injuries in a skiing accident in December 2013 and has not been seen in public since.

"Die Aktuelle" published a photo of a smiling Schumacher, 54, on the front page of its latest edition under the headline "Michael Schumacher, first interview".

A bar below reads "looked deceptively real" and it appears in the article that the alleged quotes were produced by AI. The family has confirmed to the Reuters news agency that they are planning to pursue the matter legally.

After his skiing accident, Schumacher was put into an induced coma and brought home in September 2014, with his medical condition since his family.

The German won two of his F1 drivers' world titles with Benetton in 1994 and 1995, while he claimed five in a row for Ferrari from 2000 to 2004.

His seven F1 titles are a record shared with Lewis Hamilton, while Schumacher achieved 91 career race wins, a record Hamilton surpassed in 2020.

He initially retired from racing in 2006, but returned in 2010 before retiring again two years later. Schumacher's son Mick has driven for Haas in F1 and is currently a reserve driver for Mercedes.

In a 2021 Netflix documentary, Schumacher's wife Corinna said: "We live together at home. We do therapy. We do everything we can to make Michael better and make sure he is comfortable and just make him feel our family, our connection."

"We're trying to carry on as a family, as Michael loved and still does. And we're moving on with our lives.  Private is private, as he always said. It's very important to me that he continues to enjoy life his privacy as much as possible. Michael has always protected us, and now we're protecting Michael."