Family of F1 Driver Taking Legal Action Against Magazine for AI-Generated 'Interview'

John Simmons | April 21, 2023
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For those thinking that the emergence of artificial intelligence (AI) is a good thing, you might want to reconsider your opinion.

The family of Formula 1 racing legend Michael Schumacher will take legal action against a German magazine that used an AI-generated “interview” with the racer for a story. The publication, named “Die Aktuelle,” has yet to respond.

Schumacher, who retired with 91 race wins and 155 podium finishes, suffered a horrific skiing accident in Switzerland in December of 2013. It was so traumatic that he was placed in a medically induced coma for six months and has since lived a reclusive life in which few people ever interact with him outside of his family.

But “Die Aktuelle” didn’t care about any of these boundaries and published a piece by asking questions of an AI program called “character.ai.” This machine generated answers to questions and produced an article with “Schumacher’s” answers.

Related: Live Or Memorex? A.I. Version Of Kanye West Used On New Song Release

According to the BBC, some of the quotes AI created were as follows:

"I can with the help of my team actually stand by myself and even slowly walk a few steps," read the Schumacher 'quotes'.

"My wife and my children were a blessing to me and without them I would not have managed it. Naturally they are also very sad, how it has all happened.

"They support me and are standing firmly at my side."

Not only is this a massive intrusion of privacy, but it also sheds light on just one of the few bad effects of using AI. With this tool at our disposal, anyone can hijack a person’s identity for an interview, to access personal files, or any other sinister intentions you could think of. We could begin to lose trust in what we see, because we won’t be able to tell the difference between what's real and what's computer-generated.

I’ve seen “The Matrix,” “Age of Ultron” and now this. AI isn’t something we should view as the next great thing.

 

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