Google briefly displayed false information claiming that OpenAI CEO Sam Altman had died on Wednesday, despite Altman being alive.
The incorrect result was noticed by users on X and Reddit before Google removed it several hours later. Google said the information was no longer appearing and clarified that the change had not been made manually by the company. It suggested that vandalized public information sources can sometimes affect what appears in Search.
Around the same time, Altman’s Wikipedia page experienced unusually heavy editing activity. One edit falsely claimed that he had been assassinated and died that day. The misinformation was corrected less than an hour later, although several additional acts of vandalism followed.
The Wikimedia Foundation said volunteers quickly reversed the false edits, issued warnings, and placed Altman’s page under semi-protection to limit further changes.
Google did not confirm that Wikipedia was directly responsible for the incorrect search result. However, the company noted that its knowledge panels use information from hundreds of public and licensed sources across the web, including Wikipedia.
The incident highlights how quickly vandalized information from public sources can potentially spread into automated search features before corrections are made.