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International Business Times UK
International Business Times UK
Technology
Regyl Jaen

Sam Altman 'Declared Dead' for 43 Minutes: Google Fell for Fake Wikipedia Assassination Claim

Sam Altman’s Wikipedia page was vandalised, and the false death details later appeared in Google Search. (Credit: X / Colin @colin_digital)

For a brief period on August 12, 2026, Google Search incorrectly displayed OpenAI CEO Sam Altman as deceased in his Knowledge Panel. Screenshots of the glitch spread across X and Reddit, with one user posting: 'WTF....google says sam is dead?'

Google later removed the false information, saying it 'was not a manual change by Google' and that vandalised public information sources can affect what appears in Search.

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