Wikipedia vandalism leads to Google error: Sam Altman 'dead' in search results
Users noticed that the search result for the OpenAI CEO's name claimed he died that same day. Google stated that the information was removed and that it was not a manual change, but rather data pulled from one of the sources. Altman's Wikipedia page was vandalized and edited several times, which likely caused the embarrassing error on Google.
The rivalry between OpenAI and Google is well-known, but this time the web was surprised to see Google display incorrect information in search results claiming that Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI, had died.
Users on X and Reddit noticed the error early Wednesday morning. Google acknowledged the mistake a few hours later and corrected the information.
«Thanks for flagging - this is no longer appearing, and was not a manual change by Google. When people vandalize public info sources, this can affect the information that appears in Search», — Google stated in a response on X.
Some commenters attributed the error to vandalism on Wikipedia. The edit history of the entry on Sam Altman shows unusual activity on Wednesday: 22 updates on that day alone, compared to about five total updates since the beginning of the month.
At 12:47 Israel time, the entry was updated to mistakenly state that Altman had been murdered. By 13:29, the entry was corrected. Later, more changes appeared, including a mention that he dropped out of his studies and a change of his last name to «Gayman».
A spokesperson for the Wikimedia Foundation told Business Insider that volunteers restored the edits within 43 minutes. The page was moved to partial protection, allowing only users with accounts at least 4 days old and with at least 10 edits to modify the page.
Google explains that the knowledge panels appearing at the top of search results rely on a variety of public sources. Wikipedia is a frequently cited source, but not the only one; the company pulls data from hundreds of sources across the web, including licensed data for music, sports, and television. Google also maintains a reporting system that allows users to flag incorrect information for manual removal.
