Elon Musk's "Wikipedia Killer" Grokipedia Launches... And It's Already Full of Copied Content

So, Elon Musk’s new AI firm, xAI, has formally launched its new on-line encyclopedia, Grokipedia. Musk has been claiming this would be the various that “replaces Wikipedia.”

Nevertheless, on its very first day, the location is already getting dragged for allegedly copying content material straight from Wikipedia.

Grokipedia seems and feels lots like Wikipedia, with an enormous search bar and commonplace article formatting. Nevertheless it’s presently tiny compared. The location claims to have about 885,000 articles, whereas the English model of Wikipedia alone has over 7 million.

In a typical Elon Musk transfer, he said, “Grokipedia 1.0 will probably be 10x higher, however I feel even at v0.1 it’s higher than Wikipedia.”

The “Verified by AI” Downside

A be aware below the articles claims the textual content has been “verified” by Grok, the xAI massive language mannequin. This can be a main purple flag, as LLMs are identified for “hallucinating” and confidently presenting false info. It’s typically not a good suggestion to make use of an AI to fact-check itself.

It’s Actually Copied from Wikipedia

Regardless of Musk promising a “large enchancment,” many pages seem like direct lifts.

For instance, if you happen to test the web page for the PlayStation 5, a discover on the backside reads: “This content material is customized from Wikipedia.” The textual content on that web page is reported to be almost similar to Wikipedia’s. The identical warning and copied textual content have been discovered on pages for the MacBook Air and the Lincoln Mark VIII.

A spokesperson for the Wikimedia Basis (the nonprofit that runs Wikipedia) summed it up completely: “Grokipedia wants Wikipedia to even exist.”

Curiously, not all content material is a direct copy. Stories point out that pages on controversial political and scientific matters, like local weather change, present important variations from their Wikipedia counterparts.

It additionally appears customers can’t really edit articles proper now. An “edit” button exists on some pages, however clicking it solely reveals earlier adjustments with out saying who made them, and there’s no obvious method for customers to submit their very own edits.