Elon Musk has flipped another page in his tech empire, this time launching Grokipedia, a brand-new AI-written encyclopedia meant to rival Wikipedia. The platform, created under xAI, debuted quietly but immediately stirred up debate. With about 885,000 entries, Grokipedia promises a “truth-oriented” view of knowledge — though some entries already show a peculiar slant that critics call Muskian.

Observers noticed that Grokipedia mirrors Wikipedia’s structure almost perfectly, from tone to layout, but diverges sharply in content. A page on gender describes it strictly as a binary concept, while one on the January 6 Capitol riot downplays Donald Trump’s involvement — details that instantly fueled arguments about political bias. For some, it’s a welcome alternative to what Musk calls “liberal gatekeeping.” For others, it’s a glossy echo chamber built from the bones of Wikipedia itself.

The site’s own entry on Musk reads like a fan letter, praising his “visionary leadership” and “commitment to truth-based AI safety.” It cites his own company’s website as proof. Early testers even spotted factual slips — including an odd claim involving Vivek Ramaswamy’s political career, supported by nonexistent BBC and Al Jazeera citations. “It’s confident, but wrong,” one user joked on X, summarizing both the promise and peril of AI-driven knowledge.

Technically, Grokipedia runs on the same large-language model behind Musk’s Grok chatbot, integrated with X’s vast post archive. That gives it a potential edge in staying current, though also a huge risk of spreading the same kind of viral errors Grok has been mocked for. Musk shrugged off the backlash, writing that Grokipedia is “version 0.1 — expect chaos.”

Critics argue that Musk’s claim of neutrality masks a deeper agenda: reshaping how online truth is defined. Wikipedia’s co-founder Jimmy Wales said last week he was “curious, but not optimistic,” warning that AI models “just aren’t good enough to write encyclopedia articles yet.” Still, Grokipedia’s boldness can’t be ignored — love it or loathe it, Musk once again made the internet talk about his version of reality.

Source: https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2025/10/22/chatgpt-atlas-browser/