Elon Musk has launched Grokipedia, a new crowdsourced online encyclopedia that he says will rival Wikipedia and serve as a “truth-focused” alternative to the internet’s most widely used reference site.
Announcing the project on social media, Musk said that Grokipedia.com is “now live” and described its mission as promoting “the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth.” The new platform marks Musk’s latest venture under his artificial intelligence company, xAI, which he founded in 2023 to develop generative AI models competing with systems from OpenAI and Google.
Musk’s ongoing feud with Wikipedia
The Tesla and SpaceX CEO has repeatedly accused Wikipedia of political bias, calling it “propaganda” and urging people to stop donating to the Wikimedia Foundation, which operates the nonprofit encyclopedia. In September, Musk revealed that xAI was developing Grokipedia as a fact-based alternative “free from ideological distortion.”
The website currently features a minimalist interface — a plain search bar and limited navigation tools. According to its landing page, Grokipedia contains 885,279 articles, far fewer than Wikipedia’s more than 7 million English-language entries. Users can search for a range of topics, including pop culture, sports, and historical events.
Unclear authorship and AI involvement
While Wikipedia’s entries are written and edited by a global network of human volunteers, the editorial process behind Grokipedia remains opaque. Reports suggest that the site draws heavily on xAI’s Grok chatbot model, which powers Musk’s AI assistant integrated into X (formerly Twitter). Some of Grokipedia’s content appears to be AI-generated or adapted from Wikipedia itself, raising questions about authorship, sourcing, and copyright.
The Wikimedia Foundation, headquartered in San Francisco, said Tuesday that it is “still in the process of understanding how Grokipedia works.” A spokesperson added that human-generated knowledge like Wikipedia’s continues to play an essential role in AI development.
“This human-created knowledge is what AI companies rely on to generate content; even Grokipedia needs Wikipedia to exist,” the Foundation said in a statement.
A clash over information control
Wikipedia has long been a cornerstone of the open internet, serving billions of users and acting as a training resource for AI systems such as ChatGPT and Google’s Gemini. But in recent months, it has become a target of political scrutiny.
In August, Republican lawmakers in the U.S. Congress launched an investigation into alleged “manipulation efforts” within Wikipedia’s editorial process, claiming bias in political coverage. The inquiry also questioned how such biases might influence AI models trained on Wikipedia data.
Wikipedia’s editors, however, operate under strict transparency and sourcing rules, requiring nearly every statement to be backed by a cited source. Entries with unverifiable claims can be challenged and removed by the community.
By contrast, early reviews of Grokipedia suggest its articles vary widely in quality and sourcing depth. For instance, its entry on the Chola Dynasty of southern India includes only three linked sources, compared with Wikipedia’s 113 citations and multiple book references.
Grokipedia’s critique of Wikipedia
One of Grokipedia’s most visited entries is its own page about Wikipedia, which accuses the platform of having “systemic ideological biases — particularly a left-leaning slant in coverage of political figures and topics.”
That criticism mirrors Musk’s broader campaign against what he sees as media and tech bias. Since acquiring Twitter in 2022, Musk has positioned his platforms as champions of free expression, often clashing with mainstream media and advocacy groups over misinformation and content moderation.
Wikimedia Foundation defends transparency and rigor
Responding to Musk’s new venture, the Wikimedia Foundation defended Wikipedia’s open-editing model and long-established governance.
“Unlike newer projects, Wikipedia’s strengths are clear: it has transparent policies, rigorous volunteer oversight, and a strong culture of continuous improvement,” the organization said. “Wikipedia is an encyclopedia written to inform billions of readers without promoting a particular point of view.”
Industry analysts note that Grokipedia may face challenges establishing credibility and reliability, especially if its content relies heavily on AI without human editorial oversight. Others see the launch as part of Musk’s broader effort to expand xAI’s influence and diversify the X platform ecosystem through products promoting what he calls “uncensored truth.”
A new experiment in digital knowledge
Grokipedia’s debut adds to a growing conversation about how AI-generated content will coexist with human-curated knowledge sources. As digital platforms increasingly automate the creation and distribution of information, questions about accuracy, transparency, and editorial accountability are likely to intensify.
Whether Grokipedia will emerge as a genuine rival to Wikipedia—or simply a politically charged alternative—remains to be seen. For now, Musk’s latest project underscores a shifting battle over who defines “truth” in the age of artificial intelligence.
Sorce: AP News – Elon Musk launches Grokipedia to compete with online encyclopedia Wikipedia
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