By Kelsey Vlamis
Publication Date: 2026-08-12 22:28:00
Sam Altman is not dead, contrary to what a Google result earlier today may have told you.
Early Wednesday, users on X and Reddit pointed out that the Google search result for the OpenAI CEO’s name said he had died that same day.
Google acknowledged the incorrect result several hours later.
“Thanks for flagging – this is no longer appearing, and was not a manual change by Google,” Google said in a response on X. “When people vandalize public info sources, this can affect the information that appears in Search.”
Google declined to comment when reached by Business Insider.
Some commenters blamed Wikipedia vandalism, which the site itself describes as “editing a page in an intentionally disruptive or malicious manner.” Wikipedia, essentially the internet’s free encyclopedia, relies on volunteers to edit and update its pages.
The revision history of the page for Sam Altman shows that editors were unusually active on Wednesday, with 22 updates listed…
