NEED TO KNOW
-
Elon Musk is competing with Wikipedia by launching an AI-generated alternative to the online encyclopedia, called Grokipedia
-
The information on the service is entirely generated by AI
-
Grokipedia has already been accused of copying content verbatim from Wikipedia
Elon Musk is using artificial intelligence to create an alternative to Wikipedia.
On Monday, Oct. 27, the 54-year-old billionaire launched his new website Grokipedia, an online encyclopedia service that is generated entirely through AI.
The site was launched under Musk’s AI company xAI, which he founded in 2023. The company is also responsible for Grok, the AI fact-checker that Musk implemented on his social media platform X, formerly Twitter.
According to Grok, the new Grokipedia is “an AI-powered online encyclopedia designed as a more ‘truthful’ alternative to Wikipedia.”
grokipedia.com
The landing page for Grokipedia
Musk has been critical of Wikipedia, claiming that it’s so “woke” that it should be referred to as “Wokipedia” on X.
“We are building Grokipedia @xAI,” Musk announced on Sept. 30, claiming that it would “be a massive improvement over Wikipedia.”
He added, “Frankly, it is a necessary step towards the xAI goal of understanding the Universe.”
At the time of publishing, Grokipedia features more than 880,000 entries. In comparison, Wikipedia has more than 7 million entries in English alone. Unlike Wikipedia, where articles are written by humans, entries on Grokipedia are sourced and written entirely by AI.
An entry on Musk, for instance, features a disclaimer that it was “fact-checked by Grok.”
Terence Lewis/Icon Sportswire via Getty
Elon Musk
It features more than 300 sources, several from outlets such as The New York Times and NPR. Notably, on Sept. 30, Musk laughingly reacted to a post on X that called out Wikipedia for listing both outlets as “reliable sources.”
While users cannot edit the data, they are able to flag when information in entries is incorrect.
Since launching, however, Grokipedia has been accused of replicating content published on Wikipedia, NBC and other outlets reported.
In fact, some entries on the site feature the disclaimer that “the content is adapted from Wikipedia, licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License.”
NBC News noted that some of the entries on Grokipedia appear to be verbatim copies of what is already published on Wikipedia.
Gage Skidmore/ZUMA Press Wire/Shutterstock
Elon Musk
On X, Musk has responded to people noting that his services reference Wikipedia, saying that they “should have this fixed by end of year.”
Grokipedia’s launch was also met with some other pitfalls. The website crashed upon launching, according to outlets including The New York Times and Fox News. The latter outlet also noted that the release of the service was delayed by a week.
The Wikimedia Foundation, the nonprofit organization that runs Wikipedia, appears to be responding to the service. Visitors to Wikipedia’s homepage on Tuesday, Oct. 28 were greeted with a fundraising alert.
Never miss a story — sign up for PEOPLE’s free daily newsletter to stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer, from celebrity news to compelling human interest stories.
Win McNamee/Getty
Elon Musk
“After nearly 25 years, Wikipedia is still the internet we were promised—created by people, not by machines. It’s not perfect, but it’s not here to push a point of view. It’s owned by a non-profit, not a giant technology company or a billionaire,” the fundraising request read.
“Most readers donate because Wikipedia is useful to them, others because Wikipedia is more important than ever,” it continued.
In a statement shared with PEOPLE, a Wikimedia Foundation spokesperson said that the organization is “still in the process of understanding how Grokipedia works.”
The statement continued: “Since 2001, Wikipedia has been the backbone of knowledge on the internet. Hosted by the Wikimedia Foundation, it remains the only top website in the world run by a nonprofit. Unlike newer projects, Wikipedia’s strengths are clear: it has transparent policies, rigorous volunteer oversight, and a strong culture of continuous improvement. Wikipedia is an encyclopedia, written to inform billions of readers without promoting a particular point of view.”
“Wikipedia’s knowledge is — and always will be — human,” the spokesperson wrote. “Through open collaboration and consensus, people from all backgrounds build a neutral, living record of human understanding — one that reflects our diversity and collective curiosity. This human-created knowledge is what AI companies rely on to generate content; even Grokipedia needs Wikipedia to exist.”
The organization noted that there have been “experiments” in the past that set out “to create alternative versions of Wikipedia,” adding, “it doesn’t interfere with our work or mission.”
“As we approach Wikipedia’s 25th anniversary, Wikipedia will continue focusing on providing free, trustworthy knowledge built by its dedicated volunteer community,” the statement added.
PEOPLE contacted Musks’ xAI for comment on the new service. xAI described the reports as “lies.”
Read the original article on People
