The family of Michael Schumacher has won a lawsuit against the publisher of the German magazine Die Aktuelle, after the magazine published a false interview created using artificial intelligence tools.

The German magazine Die Aktuelle promoted on its cover in April 2023 the words "Michael Schumacher, the first interview!", taking advantage of the fact that the former German driver had never been able to give any statements for health reasons after the serious accident he suffered on 29 December 2013, a few weeks after announcing his retirement from Formula 1, when he hit his head while skiing with his family in the resort of Méribel in the French Alps.

The publisher, allegedly to boost sales, wrote several misleading things that led to confusion that an interview had been conducted with the greatest champion in the history of the most important category of world motorsport (7 times, years 1994-95 and 2000-04).

It also wrote that "it sounds deceptively real" with the alleged quotes attributed to Schumacher generated by AI. Die Aktuelle is one of many celebrity tabloids in Germany.

Family spokeswoman Sabine Kehm told The Associated Press by email on Thursday that the legal action had been successful, without commenting further on the celebrity tabloid in Germany. "We won the case and will not comment further," Kehm said.

The compensation was reported to be 200,000 euros. As a result, the German publisher Funke apologised to Schumacher's family last year for the article and fired the editor-in-chief of Die Aktuelle.

Michael Schumacher, considered by many to be the best driver in history with 7 titles and 91 Grand Prix victories, had surpassed his idol, the Argentinian Juan Manuel Fangio, in 2003 after almost 5 decades (who remained with 5 titles, although he has the highest winning percentage in F1 history) and had become the undisputed master of world motorsport until the arrival of the British driver Lewis Hamilton, who equalled him with 7 world titles (and surpassed him in the number of races won).

After retiring from competition, the 55-year-old German suffered a near-fatal brain injury in the accident and since 2014 has been resting at his family home in Switzerland with private care, not appearing in public and with his family extremely reluctant to provide information about his health.