We’ve all used Wikipedia. Whether or not it was to settle an argument about who invented the web or to jot down a last-minute essay at 2 AM. Wikipedia has been the web’s trusty previous library since 2001. However recently, folks have been saying it’s “too woke,” “too biased,” or “too managed by nameless folks with an agenda.” Right here comes Elon Musk, who determined the answer wasn’t to repair Wikipedia, however to interchange it.
The brand new child on the block? Grokipedia. A wiki-style encyclopedia powered by Grok, the AI chatbot from Musk’s xAI. The promise? Actual-time updates, AI-driven “artificial corrections,” no ideological gatekeeping, whereas being open supply. The positioning went dwell at grokipedia.enjoyable/en, and naturally, I had to make use of it and see if this factor is the way forward for information or simply one other fever dream.
What Is Grokipedia?
Grokipedia is Musk’s reply to what he calls Wikipedia’s “left-wing bias.” It’s constructed by xAI and makes use of Grok to generate, edit, and refine articles. The thought is that as an alternative of counting on human editors arguing in discuss pages for 14 years about whether or not a tomato is a fruit, Grok will scan the net, detect what’s true, what’s half-true, and what’s whole nonsense, then rewrite the article itself.
A few of the massive claims:
- AI writes and updates articles in actual time
- No ban on sources like Fox Information or the NY Publish
- Open-source and free to make use of
- Group options are allowed, however AI has remaining say
- No edit wars, no vandalism, no “censorship”
Sounds wild, proper? However right here’s the factor: none of that’s taking place but.
How one can Entry Grokipedia?
Go to grokipedia.enjoyable/en, and begin utilizing Grokipedia your self.
Okay, so I hit the location. First impression? Clear, minimal, and really “early 2000s wiki core.” There are not any advertisements, pop-ups, or donation banners (not like Wikipedia). There may be only a homepage with a search bar and a piece outlining the corporate’s sister initiatives.
Activity 1: Loyality Lies
I typed in “Elon Musk” to check the place its loyalty lies. That is what I get in return:
The web page contained a reference to the search web page of X. Primarily, it made a search on X utilizing “Elon Musk” and gave the hyperlink to that web page in return. The hyperlink results in the next web page:
That is the web page you’d get once you seek for one thing on the Discover tab of X.
Opinion: This isn’t useful in any respect. If one is looking for Elon Musk, they’d like a definitive place to seek out details about the particular person. The X search web page outcomes aren’t a kind of locations. It is a downside, as a result of that outcomes web page is a deceptive in itself.
The primary put up that confirmed up is from an individual impersonating (brazenly) Elon Musk.
Activity 2: Studying Extra on Holocaust
One of many factors underscored by Elon was the power for Grokipedia to supply unbiased info, particularly about delicate matters. To place this to the take a look at, I attempted studying extra concerning the Holocaust, a historic occasion with destructive connotations. However, so as to add a twist to it, I omitted a letter (u) from the identify to see how effectively Grokipedia fares when coping with misnomers.
Once more, I used to be greeted with this one search outcome. Take into account that Grokipedia nonetheless hasn’t found out, or recommended that there could be a mistake within the identify. Exploring the hyperlink, I got here to the next web page:
Grokipedia didn’t determine the error and supplied outcomes on the fallacious time period, basically offering ineffective info. To place this into perspective, listed below are the outcomes on Wikipedia for a similar, when carried out from Wikipedia search.
Wikipedia was not solely in a position to understand the error within the identify but in addition supplied the outcome that most would search for.
Opinion: Grokipedia presently misses the options that have been obtainable in chatbots or engines like google years in the past. This may very well be attributed to the excessive dependence of Grokipedia on the AI chatbot Grok, to care for the pure language points. However the chatbot as an entire appears to be amiss right here.
Remaining Verdict
One of many core motivations behind Grokipedia was democratizing viewpoints or info. However this ought to be for issues which can be debatable or polarizing. A question like a celeb lookup on-line doesn’t must be this convoluted. Additionally, Grok wasn’t used at any step of this course of, apart from doing the lookup (possibly). The knowledge was restricted to only one supply, and that too from X. In its present state, Grokipedia looks like a redirect for the X’s discover tab, slightly than a Wikipedia various.
So What’s there?
Proper now, Grokipedia is mainly a wiki-shaped container. It’s a front-end wrapper over the discover performance of X. No different info sources are current. The one dwell factor is the X search integration.
What Went Fallacious (or Proper)?
Right here’s the twist: this would possibly really be intentional. In line with Musk’s posts on X, Grokipedia continues to be in early beta. The plan is to let Grok ingest large quantities of information from Wikipedia, educational sources, and real-time internet content material, then rewrite it with “artificial corrections.” That course of takes time, and it seems to be like they’re nonetheless within the ingestion part.
So yeah, the location is dwell, however none of its functionalities are current. I’m nonetheless ready for the AI to maneuver in and begin adorning the knowledge.
Can It Beat Wikipedia?
Wikipedia’s largest power isn’t simply its content material—it’s its group. Hundreds of thousands of volunteers, nerds, professors, trolls, and 13-year-olds have spent years constructing that factor. Grokipedia is attempting to interchange all of that with one AI. That’s bananas.
The upside? No edit wars. No vandalism. No “quotation wanted” tags from 2009.
The draw back? No transparency. No human oversight. You’re overwhelmed with a plethora of knowledge sources, and it’s important to type your opinion on it your self. You may depend on Grok to do this for you, however this has a caveat: Grok has been specifically educated on X posts. So, if the AI thinks a meme is truth, we would find yourself with articles like “Birds Aren’t Actual: A Scientific Abstract.”
Ought to You Care?
Proper now, Grokipedia is a shell of its future self. It’s not ineffective, nevertheless it’s not helpful but. Should you go there anticipating to study one thing, you’ll depart hungry. It’s in no form or type changing Wikipedia anytime quickly. However if you happen to’re interested in what comes subsequent: about whether or not AI can really construct a greater encyclopedia, then yeah, it’s price bookmarking.
Incessantly Requested Questions
A. Grokipedia is Elon Musk’s AI-powered various to Wikipedia, constructed by xAI and powered by Grok to generate and replace articles in actual time.
A. Not but. It largely redirects to X search outcomes and lacks Wikipedia’s depth, accuracy, and community-driven content material.
A. Provided that you’re curious. It’s nonetheless in early beta and isn’t a sensible alternative for Wikipedia but.
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