Google removes false Sam Altman death result, says it wasn't its fault
Reports of Sam Altman's death recently spread on Google search results, originating from a Wikipedia vandalism act. However, Google swiftly took action to eliminate the misinformation. Currently, a parallel erroneous claim is circulating about Anthropic's CEO, Dario Amodei. This series of events underscores the risks associated with the accuracy of information found online.
On August 12, Google's search engine displayed incorrect information stating that OpenAI CEO Sam Altman had died, causing confusion and amusement on social media platforms. The false result emerged after Reddit and X (formerly known as Twitter) users shared screenshots showing Google's search page with the false claim. Upon learning of the inaccurate information, Google promptly acknowledged it was incorrect and confirmed that the issue had been resolved.
In an X post, Google stated, "Thanks for flagging - this is no longer appearing, and was not a manual change by Google." They added, "When people vandalize public info sources, this can affect the information that appears in Search." However, Google did not specify which source led to the incorrect data appearing. The incident has been speculated to be linked to vandalism on Sam Altman's Wikipedia page, where several false edits were made, including claims of his assassination and alterations to his surname.
In response to the issue, Wikipedia restricted editing of Altman's page, allowing only registered users to make changes to prevent further vandalism. Similar false claims about Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei have also surfaced, with Google Search displaying incorrect information suggesting his death.
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