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In the media

Wikipedia editors save Sam Altman's life

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By Andreas Kolbe, Bri, Czarking0, and Mitchsavl

Cunningham's Law

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Several publications highlighted how a brief vandalism of Open AI CEO Sam Altman's Wikipedia article lead to Google Search displaying that he was dead.[1] The edit falsely claimed that Altman had been assassinated, with the edit reverted 42 minutes later. Google's search overview picked up on this addition and "informed" users that he died on August 12. Shortly after the error was initially reverted, several temporary accounts briefly readded it before being reverted, and the page has been now been temporarily semi protected. The Signpost wants to take this opportunity to thank everyone who works hard to fight vandalism on Wikipedia. Maybe next week these publications will take the opportunity to write about all the correct information on Wikipedia. Let this also serve as a reminder of all the people who rely on our efforts for their information beyond just our direct readers.

Jimbo continues the tour

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On August 16, 2026, Fortune published an interview with Jimmy Wales. The published interview begins with asking how Wikipedia supports itself without ads. Meanwhile, editors are discussing removing the donation banners from Wikipedia until the issues with meta:Wiki Workers United are resolved. Jimbo also highlighted that regular donors are subsidizing the AI companies which use Wikipedia for their training data and discussed known issues with AI in editing. There was also a dose of book promotion.

In brief

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Alexandra Burke on tour in 2011



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  1. ^ Multiple sources:
    • Signh, Ritu (August 13, 2026). "Google Search Error Shows Sam Altman As Dead, False Claim Traced To Wikipedia". NDTV.
    • Vlamis, Kelsey (August 12, 2026). "Google falsely said Sam Altman was dead — and suggested vandalized public sources could be to blame". Business Insider.



       

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