“This tasteless and misleading article should never have appeared. It does not in any way correspond to the standards of journalism that we – and our readers – expect from a publisher like Funke,” Funke magazines managing director Bianca Pohlmann stated on Saturday.

Pohlmann stated Funke was firing the chief editor of Die Aktuelle journal, the place the so-called interview appeared, and the group apologized to Schumacher’s household.

Family spokesperson Sabine Kehm already advised The Associated Press by electronic mail on Thursday that it was planning to take authorized motion over a “fake artificial intelligence interview by German outlet Die Aktuelle.”

The journal printed a photograph of the 54-year-old Schumacher on its entrance web page final weekend together with the phrases: “Michael Schumacher, the first interview!” The journal additionally wrote “it sounds deceptively real” with the supposed quotes attributed to Schumacher generated by AI. Die Aktuelle is one in all many tabloid movie star magazines in Germany.

It was whereas snowboarding within the French Alps at Meribel that Schumacher fell in December 2013 and suffered a near-fatal mind harm. His head hit a rock which break up open his helmet. Doctors eliminated blood clots however others have been left untouched as a result of they have been too deeply embedded in his mind.

Since being transferred from hospital in September 2014, the seven-time F1 champion continues to be cared for privately at a household house in Switzerland.

Schumacher retired from F1 in 2012 after three seasons with Mercedes and was changed on the workforce by Lewis Hamilton, who has matched Schumacher’s F1 titles report.