Motor racing-Schumacher's family win compensation for AI 'interview'

Former Ferrari driver Michael Schumacher of Germany looks on during the qualifying session for the Italian F1 Grand Prix race at the Monza racetrack in Monza, near Milan, in this September 13, 2008 file photo. REUTERS/Alessandro Bianchi/File Photo

(Reuters) - Michael Schumacher's family has secured 200,000 euros ($216,360) compensation from the publishers of a German magazine that printed an AI-generated 'interview' with the seven times Formula One world champion.

A family spokeswoman on Wednesday confirmed a Munich Labour Court judgement and settlement by Funke media group, publishers of the magazine Die Aktuelle, without making any further comment.

The magazine's editor was sacked last year, with Funke apologising to Schumacher's family.

Ferrari great Schumacher, now 55, has not been seen in public since he suffered a serious brain injury in a skiing accident on a family holiday in the French Alps in December 2013.

Schumacher's family maintains strict privacy about the former driver's condition, with access limited to those closest to him.

Die Aktuelle ran a front cover in April 2023 with a picture of a smiling Schumacher and the headline promising 'Michael Schumacher, the first interview'.

The strapline added: "it sounded deceptively real" but inside the 'quotes' were revealed to have been generated by artificial intelligence.

($1 = 0.9244 euros)

(Reporting by Alan Baldwin in Monaco, editing by Toby Davis)