美国国家公共电台 NPR--A magazine touted Michael Schumacher's first interview in years. It was actually AI

A magazine touted¹ Michael Schumacher's first interview in years. It was actually AI

Transcript²

A German tabloid³ magazine raised hopes — and eyebrows⁴ — earlier this month when it published what it called the "first interview" with Michael Schumacher, the race car legend who hasn't spoken publicly since suffering a near-fatal brain injury in December 2013.

The April 15 Die Aktuelle article featured quotes purportedly⁵ from the German athlete, discussing his medical condition and life after his skiing accident — the kind of information that his family has fought to keep private for nearly a decade. The big reveal came at the very end:

"Did Michael Schumacher really say everything himself?" the article concludes, according to The Independent. "The interview was online. On a page that has to do with artificial intelligence, or AI for short."

Die Familie von Michael #Schumacher geht juristisch gegen ?Die Aktuelle“ vor. Das hat uns Schumachers Management best?tigt. Das Blatt hatte KI-Antworten als ?Das erste Interview!“ mit Schumacher verkauft.

The AI-generated interview sparked backlash immediately, and Schumacher's family said through its spokesperson that it plans to sue the magazine. (Their representative declined to comment further in an email to NPR.)

Within a week of the interview publishing, Die Aktuelle fired editor-in-chief Anne Hoffmann and issued an apology to Schumacher's family.

"This tasteless and misleading article should never have appeared," said Bianca Pohlmann, managing director of parent company FUNKE magazines. "It in no way corresponds to the standards of journalism⁶ that we – and our readers – expect from a publisher like FUNKE."

Nicole Kraft, an associate professor of communications at The Ohio State University, agrees.

"The idea that we would allow an AI program to manufacture what they think Michael Schumacher would be saying at this point in his life is really just patently unethical," she says.

While Kraft was horrified⁸ to see the faked interview, she was not surprised.

"This is our new reality," she says. "And we're going to need to be much more discerning in how we interpret information, and how we process that that's in front of us and not necessarily take it at face value. That's going to be a responsibility for every person who's a consumer of any information."

The magazine called the piece "deceptively real"

At first glance, the cover — with a large photo of a smiling Schumacher — looks as though it is promoting an exclusive interview.

"No meager⁹, nebulous half-sentences from friends," reads a translation of the cover text by The Verge¹⁰. "But answers from him! By Michael Schumacher, 54!"

Only one clue suggests that might not be the case: a line calling the interview "deceptively real."

The spread itself features quotes attributed to Schumacher, about his injury, recovery and family.

"I was so badly injured that I lay for months in a kind of artificial coma¹¹, because otherwise my body couldn't have dealt with it all," reads one, per The Independent. "I've had a tough time but the hospital team has managed to bring me back to my family."

In reality, very little is known about Schumacher's condition. His family has fiercely safeguarded his privacy.

Schumacher's life after his legendary¹² career is a mystery

Schumacher won 91 Grand Prix races and seven world championship titles during his two-decade career, before retiring in 2012.

The following December, while skiing in the French Alps, he fell and hit his head on a rock, shattering his helmet. Schumacher was put into a medically induced coma and underwent two operations to remove blood clots¹³ around his brain.

Doctors were initially¹⁴ unsure whether Schumacher would survive. But by June 2014, his manager said he had awoken from his coma and was being released from the French hospital to one in Switzerland to continue his rehabilitation¹⁵. Details have been scarce ever since.

His wife, Corinna Schumacher, said in a 2021 Netflix documentary that the family lives together at home and does therapy. She described Michael as "different, but he's here."

"We do everything we can to make Michael better and to make sure he's comfortable, and to simply make him feel our family, our bond," she said. "We're trying to carry on as a family, the way Michael liked it and still does. And we are getting on with our lives."

This isn't the Schumachers' first case against the magazine

The Schumachers have had issues with Die Aktuelle in the past, as ESPN reports.

A controversial 2014 cover of the magazine featured a picture of the couple alongside the headline "Awake." The actual story was about other people who had woken up from comas¹⁶.

The following year, the family sued the magazine over a cover that said "a new love" had entered Corinna's life: It was actually about the couple's daughter. Their lawsuit¹⁷ was dismissed.

Kraft believes the Schumachers have a strong civil case this time around, with either a privacy or defamation¹⁸ claim.

But she says while fabrication is not unheard of in journalism, "we're in uncharted waters" when it comes to legal consequences for AI-generated fabrications.

"I'm not sure what their level of success will be because we are in a brand new space of law," she adds. "And the legal system itself hasn't really caught up with the technological¹⁹ advances of the internet, of social media, of this rapid revolution and evolution of media."

Kraft notes that European countries generally do not have the same level of free speech protections as the U.S., where a case of this sort would probably be more likely to settle before getting to court (as was the case with Dominion²⁰ Voting Systems' suit against Fox News).

"I think this is going to be an epidemic²¹ across media," she says. "And they just happened to have fired the first round on this one."

There are lessons for readers, even in the U.S.

Kraft says the prevalence of AI and chatbots is opening up a number of benefits, challenges and ethical⁷ questions, whether about national media outlets²² or students using ChatGPT in her class.

"Whenever there's new technology, the desire is there to push it to its ultimate boundaries," she adds. "And I think that's what we're seeing right now."

Kraft does not expect to see these technologies regulated in the near future. If that does happen, she thinks it would be "a fairly knee-jerk reaction that may or may not hold up in a court of law," given the U.S. legal system's reluctance²³ to curb²⁴ speech.

She points out that little has been done despite years of deep fakes (including Republicans' AI-generated response to Biden's reelection announcement earlier this week). At the end of the day, she says, lying is protected speech.

"So I think that this is going to be a really questionable²⁵ space that we are going to struggle with for quite some time — especially as we move into the election season, and are susceptible²⁶ to things that are manufactured, and where we won't have any idea where they came from or how they were generated," she adds.

Kraft recommends people double and triple check the information they see online, make sure it's coming from reputable sources and decide how much validity to give to things that they can't confirm.

There are very few things people are going to be able to take at face value, she adds.

"If something seems too good to be true or too surprising to be true, it probably is," she says. "And I put into that category the idea that Michael Schumacher would miraculously²⁷ decide to do an interview."

1 touted   

v.兜售( tout的过去式和过去分词 )；招揽；侦查；探听赛马情报

参考例句：

• She's being touted as the next leader of the party. 她被吹捧为该党的下一任领导人。
• People said that he touted for his mother and sister. 据说，他给母亲和姐姐拉生意。 来自辞典例句

2 transcript   

n.抄本，誊本，副本，肄业证书

参考例句：

• A transcript of the tapes was presented as evidence in court.一份录音带的文字本作为证据被呈交法庭。
• They wouldn't let me have a transcript of the interview.他们拒绝给我一份采访的文字整理稿。

3 tabloid   

adj.轰动性的，庸俗的；n.小报，文摘

参考例句：

• He launched into a verbal assault on tabloid journalism.他口头对小报新闻进行了抨击。
• He believes that the tabloid press has behaved disgracefully.他认为小报媒体的行为不太光彩。

4 eyebrows   

眉毛( eyebrow的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Eyebrows stop sweat from coming down into the eyes. 眉毛挡住汗水使其不能流进眼睛。
• His eyebrows project noticeably. 他的眉毛特别突出。

5 purportedly   

adv.据称

参考例句：

• This is purportedly the oldest tree in the world. 据称这是世界上最古老的一棵树。 来自互联网
• Mayor Oh Se-Hoon launched the campaign last year, purportedly to improve efficiency. 据悉，首尔市市长吴世勋于去年提出了这项旨在提高工作效率的计划。 来自互联网

6 journalism   

n.新闻工作，报业

参考例句：

• He's a teacher but he does some journalism on the side.他是教师，可还兼职做一些新闻工作。
• He had an aptitude for journalism.他有从事新闻工作的才能。

7 ethical   

adj.伦理的，道德的，合乎道德的

参考例句：

• It is necessary to get the youth to have a high ethical concept.必须使青年具有高度的道德观念。
• It was a debate which aroused fervent ethical arguments.那是一场引发强烈的伦理道德争论的辩论。

8 horrified   

a.(表现出)恐惧的

参考例句：

• The whole country was horrified by the killings. 全国都对这些凶杀案感到大为震惊。
• We were horrified at the conditions prevailing in local prisons. 地方监狱的普遍状况让我们震惊。

9 meager   

adj.缺乏的，不足的，瘦的

参考例句：

• He could not support his family on his meager salary.他靠微薄的工资无法养家。
• The two men and the woman grouped about the fire and began their meager meal.两个男人同一个女人围着火，开始吃起少得可怜的午饭。

10 verge   

n.边，边缘；v.接近，濒临

参考例句：

• The country's economy is on the verge of collapse.国家的经济已到了崩溃的边缘。
• She was on the verge of bursting into tears.她快要哭出来了。

11 coma   

n.昏迷，昏迷状态

参考例句：

• The patient rallied from the coma.病人从昏迷中苏醒过来。
• She went into a coma after swallowing a whole bottle of sleeping pills.她吃了一整瓶安眠药后就昏迷过去了。

12 legendary   

adj.传奇（中）的，闻名遐迩的；n.传奇（文学）

参考例句：

• Legendary stories are passed down from parents to children.传奇故事是由父母传给孩子们的。
• Odysseus was a legendary Greek hero.奥狄修斯是传说中的希腊英雄。

13 clots   

n.凝块( clot的名词复数 )；血块；蠢人；傻瓜v.凝固( clot的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• When you cut yourself, blood clots and forms a scab. 你割破了，血会凝固、结痂。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Milk clots when it turns sour. 奶变酸就凝块。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》

14 initially   

adv.最初，开始

参考例句：

• The ban was initially opposed by the US.这一禁令首先遭到美国的反对。
• Feathers initially developed from insect scales.羽毛最初由昆虫的翅瓣演化而来。

15 rehabilitation   

n.康复，悔过自新，修复，复兴，复职，复位

参考例句：

• He's booked himself into a rehabilitation clinic.他自己联系了一家康复诊所。
• No one can really make me rehabilitation of injuries.已经没有人可以真正令我的伤康复了。

16 comas   

n.昏迷( coma的名词复数 )

参考例句：

17 lawsuit   

n.诉讼，控诉

参考例句：

• They threatened him with a lawsuit.他们以诉讼威逼他。
• He was perpetually involving himself in this long lawsuit.他使自己无休止地卷入这场长时间的诉讼。

18 defamation   

n.诽谤；中伤

参考例句：

• Character defamation can be either oral or written.人格诽谤既可以是口头的也可以是书面的。
• The company sued for defamation.这个公司因受到诽谤而提起诉讼。

19 technological   

adj.技术的；工艺的

参考例句：

• A successful company must keep up with the pace of technological change.一家成功的公司必须得跟上技术变革的步伐。
• Today,the pace of life is increasing with technological advancements.当今， 随着科技进步，生活节奏不断增快。

20 dominion   

n.统治，管辖，支配权；领土，版图

参考例句：

• Alexander held dominion over a vast area.亚历山大曾统治过辽阔的地域。
• In the affluent society,the authorities are hardly forced to justify their dominion.在富裕社会里，当局几乎无需证明其统治之合理。

21 epidemic   

n.流行病；盛行；adj.流行性的，流传极广的

参考例句：

• That kind of epidemic disease has long been stamped out.那种传染病早已绝迹。
• The authorities tried to localise the epidemic.当局试图把流行病限制在局部范围。

22 outlets   

n.出口( outlet的名词复数 )；经销店；插座；廉价经销店

参考例句：

• The dumping of foreign cotton blocked outlets for locally grown cotton. 外国棉花的倾销阻滞了当地生产的棉花的销路。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• They must find outlets for their products. 他们必须为自己的产品寻找出路。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

23 reluctance   

n.厌恶，讨厌，勉强，不情愿

参考例句：

• The police released Andrew with reluctance.警方勉强把安德鲁放走了。
• He showed the greatest reluctance to make a reply.他表示很不愿意答复。

24 curb   

n.场外证券市场，场外交易；vt.制止，抑制

参考例句：

• I could not curb my anger.我按捺不住我的愤怒。
• You must curb your daughter when you are in church.你在教堂时必须管住你的女儿。

25 questionable   

adj.可疑的，有问题的

参考例句：

• There are still a few questionable points in the case.这个案件还有几个疑点。
• Your argument is based on a set of questionable assumptions.你的论证建立在一套有问题的假设上。

26 susceptible   

adj.过敏的，敏感的；易动感情的，易受感动的

参考例句：

• Children are more susceptible than adults.孩子比成人易受感动。
• We are all susceptible to advertising.我们都易受广告的影响。

27 miraculously   

ad.奇迹般地

参考例句：

• He had been miraculously saved from almost certain death. 他奇迹般地从死亡线上获救。
• A schoolboy miraculously survived a 25 000-volt electric shock. 一名男学生在遭受2.5 万伏的电击后奇迹般地活了下来。